Police defend stop and search powers after £50,000 drugs find

Writing on the PSNI Magherafelt facebook page, an officer wrote: “Always plenty of opinions (and often nonsense) spoken in the media about Police stop and search powers.

“Magherafelt officers use stop and search powers everyday and as a result often recover drugs and other criminal property.

“Today (Tuesday) is a good example of the benefits of such powers.”

The officer continued: “A male walking through the town this afternoon was stopped and detained for a search, in his possession were drugs and £9,000 cash in a vacuum packed bag.

“The male was arrested for possession of criminal property and drugs. After his arrest follow up searches of property linked to the male recovered a significant amount of drugs and cash.”

The officer added: “As a direct result of today’s single stop and search, drugs with an estimated street value of £50,000 and over £10,000 in cash have been removed from circulation in Magherafelt.”