Derry man charged with possessing £16,000 worth of cocaine remanded

A man has been remanded in custody at Derry Magistrates' Court charged with a number of drug related offences including possessing cocaine valued at £16,000.

Ruairi Curtis (32) of St. Brecan's Park in Derry was charged with, on January 11, possession of cocaine with intent to supply, as well as seven similar charges including possessing cannabis with intent to supply. 

Police initially searched Curtis's property and saw a number of people running, including Curtis, who attempted to run upstairs.

A bag of white powder, later confirmed to be £16,000 worth of cocaine, was found by police outside the house along with a pair of mobile phones.

Police also found seventeen canisters of Nitros Oxide, 23g of cannabis that had been placed in a strawberry box and put into the bin and £3850 in cash.

On January 12, police triaged the phones that were found at the scene and found evidence suggesting that Curtis was heavily involved in the supply of drugs.

When interviewed, Curtis confirmed that the cannabis and the Nitrous Oxide were in fact his, admitting that he smoked around £70-£100 worth of cannabis per day and claiming that he had only the Nitrous Oxide for making cocktails and baking.

He also admitted to being a gambling addict and police found him to be down around £4000 'this week alone'.

Bail was objected to as they believe that Curtis is at clear risk of reoffending and of breaching bail as well as a risk to the public as the drugs problem in the city a police officer said was getting 'out of control'.

Defence solicitor Jack Quigley said that Curtis had 'no history' of breaching bail and added that he had answered the majority of police questions and provided the pass codes for the phones.

He asked the court to give the defendant a chance and added 'if he fails that test on his own head be it.'

Bail was refused and he will appear again on February 6.