Man remanded over drugs haul

The man was arrested at Belfast port

A Liverpool man has appeared in court in connection with a £250,000 drugs seizure.

Alan Lee Parkinson, 23, from Melford Grove, was remanded in custody for seven days by Belfast Magistrates Court on Monday.

He was charged with possession and possession with intent to supply cocaine, ecstasy and cannabis resin.

A police witness told the court that Mr Parkinson made no comment when the charges were put to him.

He was arrested on Saturday morning after police stopped a car in the Port of Belfast after it drove off the overnight ferry from Liverpool.

The drugs were discovered in a suitcase during a search of the car.

A 22-year-old woman, who was also arrested, has been released without charge pending a report to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

It is the second time in a week that people from the north of England have appeared in court in Northern Ireland after drugs seizures there.

Last Tuesday grandparents Paul McSween, 49, and his wife Barbara, 51, from Prescot, Merseyside, appeared in court charged with possession and possession with intent to supply cannabis resin.

Police found a large quantity of the drug in a car which was stopped as it arrived in Larne, County Antrim. It had travelled on a boat from Fleetwood, Lancashire.