Drugs find accused ‘under threat from criminal gang’

Refusing to free 23-year-old Ethan Cherry due to a risk of further offences, District Judge Mark Hamill said the case against him was a “familiar example of the noxious connection between paramilitaries and drug dealing”.

Appearing at Belfast Magistrates’ Court by video-link from police custody on Saturday, Cherry, from Trassey Close in the city, confirmed that he understood the four charges against him, allegedly committed on April 1, including possessing cannabis, having the class B drug with intent to supply, simple possession of class A cocaine and driving a Mercedes Benz without insurance.

It was reported at the time that the seizure was worth an estimated £75,000.

Giving evidence to the court a detective constable described how the case relates to “an investigation into drugs criminality of the East Belfast UVF”.

He outlined that when Cherry was stopped and searched on the Upper Hightown Road on Friday morning, officers noted that he had “white powder about him” and when his car was searched, police found five kilos of cannabis hidden in two holdalls in the back seat.

Arrested and interviewed, Cherry claimed he was “under threat from drugs criminal gang” but did not give the police any further details that investigators could use to “verify that”.

“He didn’t specify that he had been directly threatened or that any direct threat was made against him or his family and no weapons were mentioned,” said the detective.

Cherry was remanded into custody, with the case adjourned to April 29.