DETECTIVES uncovered herbal cannabis hidden inside a martial arts training dummy as part of a £20,000 seizure at a house in Derry.
Officers from the PSNI’s Reactive and Organised Crime Branch recovered gold rings, receipts for more jewellery and £1,280 in cash, the High Court has heard
The items were seized during searches at a house George Campbell shares with his parents.
Details emerged as the 27-year-old was refused bail amid claims he is involved in drug dealing.
Campbell, of Glendale Road in the city, faces charges of possessing cannabis with intent to supply, having criminal property, and simple possession of cocaine.
Police discovered small quantities of the drugs in his bedroom during a raid carried out on April 13, the court heard.
Prosecution counsel Natalie Pinkerton said a further search of the attic uncovered nine nine bags of herbal cannabis in the attic.
She told the court officers then became aware of a strong smell of outside the house.
“They located a training dummy used for martial arts and boxing,” the barrister added.
A bag full of drugs was found after police removed part of the dummy.
“The combined weight of the herbal cannabis in the attic and outside was 1kg, with an estimated value of £20,000,” Ms Pinkerton said.
During interviews Campbell said the drugs inside the house were for his personal use, but claimed the rest was being kept for an unnamed man to be collected later.
A previous court hearing in Derry was told that Campbell no source of income apart from ‘dole’ money.
A police officer said the defendant had previously been convicted of possessing Class A and Class B drugs in 2014 and had just recently finished his sentence in relation to this conviction.
A defence barrister described his client as a drug user who was paid in cannabis for holding supplies for another person.
Campbell insists his fingerprints or DNA will not be found on any of the bags outside the house.
But Mr Justice Burgess refused bail saying there were no conditions to guard against the risk of re-offending.
He added: “These offences seem to have been happening at his parent’s home, and they don’t appear to have much control over what was happening.
“Even the smell of cannabis outside the house – I will put down to the parents not knowing what the smell of cannabis was.”
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