Man (41) appears before Derry Magistrate's Court on cannabis charges

Andrew Murie (41) of Lincoln Courts in Derry appeared charged with possessing cannabis with intent to supply, possessing cannabis, being concerned in the supply of cannabis and possessing criminal property on April 8.

At the beginning of the appearance, defence solicitor Paddy MacDermott applied for anonymity for his client.

District Judge Barney McElholm said that he had granted anonymity in drugs cases in the past due to the actions of 'specific paramilitary groupings'.

He said he believed the question of anonymity should be revisited if there was a conviction in the case.

In this case the judge felt there was no specific threat and for that reason refused the anonymity application.

A police officer connected the accused to the charges and opposed bail.

He told the court that a search under a warrant had uncovered 750 grammes of cannabis in vacuum packed bags, vacuum bags, deal bags and a quantity of plant food.

A sum of cash, £2,400, was also found during the search in the Lincoln Courts area and a mobile phone was seized.

The court heard that initially Murie had refused to give his PIN number but then did.

He told police he was addicted to cannabis and sold some to feed his own addiction.

Murie told police he supplied about 10 people with drugs.

The police officer said that an initial triage of the phone revealed 17,000 pages of material and police believed that the quantity of drugs was greater than Murie had admitted.

He also said that police had a number of concerns including the plant food indicating that things were being grown.

Bail was opposed due to the risk of interference with the course of justice and the unsuitability of proposed addresses.

Defence solicitor Paddy MacDermott said that his client had no record and would be disputing the value of the drugs found.

He said he had been co-operative with police and had supplied his PIN number.

The solicitor said that there were no trappings of wealth and his client had 'nowhere else to go'.

He said that the defendant could spend 'months and months in custody' before the case comes to court.

District Judge Barney McElholm said that the presence of plant food suggested there was a farm somewhere and Murie had not disclosed where.

He said that the defendant could interfere with an investigation at this stage.

Mr MacDermott suggested that the bail application could be adjourned to allow police time to complete the triage of the phone.

The application was adjourned and Murie remanded in custody until April 25.