Chinese men remanded into custody after cannabis worth £450,000 found in three suitcases at Belfast International Airport

​Ballymena Magistrates’ Court on Saturday heard that despite having herbal cannabis with an estimated street value of £450,000 in three suitcases, “there was absolutely no smell” from them.

Standing side by side in the dock 31-year-old Hui Chen and Lian Hao Yuan, 26, confirmed they understood the single charge against them.

Chen, with an address at Beulalah Hill in London and Yuan, with a proposed bail address at Stockman’s Lane in Belfast, are accused of possessing class B cannabis with intent to supply on January 17.

Giving evidence during contested bail applications, a PSNI officer told the court how plain clothes officers were on duty at Belfast International Airport on Friday morning when a flight from London Gatwick arrived.

Both defendants, who were seen chatting to each other at the luggage carousel, were on that flight and between them they took three suitcases from the conveyor belt.

When Yuan was spoken to, he told police he was in Belfast for the day and was here “to feed his friend’s cat” but he could not explain why, if he was here for the day, he had such a large case.

When officers seized and searched those cases they uncovered three vacuum-packed parcels filled with herbal cannabis, and the officer said the estimated street value of the haul was around £450,000.

She said Yuan had a set of keys in his pocket which gave police access to the house on Stockman’s Lane and during follow-up searches of the property, officers found “multiple empty suitcases” as well as similar packaging, so police believe the house was used as a drug storage and distribution centre.

The court heard that during interviews the defendants gave conflicting accounts with one admitting they knew each other but the other denying they did.

The officer said police were objecting to bail due to fears the men posed flight risks and there were also concerns, given the size of the seizure and the resulting loss, they could reoffend.

Appearing for both accused defence counsel Grant Powles said that each of them had actually been resident in the UK for a number of years – Yuan as a computer science student in Aberdeen and Chen in London.

He said that according to his instructions, Chen was “approached by a female in a karaoke bar” but both had agreed to transport the cases “as a favour to a friend” but they had no knowledge of what was inside.

Mr Powles submitted that both men could surrender any travel documents and that they could be freed “with a package of stringent bail conditions” but District Judge Oonagh Mullan disagreed.

“I have to say that in many ways the explanation given is quite fanciful,” the judge told the court, that they took cases “from a relative stranger” and come to NI with “a large amount of drugs and as we all know drugs are a curse in society”.

She added that she was “extremely concerned” about the risk of flight because given the size of the haul “there is a lot at stake here … so I am not minded to grant bail”.

Both men were remanded into custody and the cases adjourned to February 11.