Two men have been returned for trial over the seizure of £500,000 worth of cannabis by police in south Belfast, believed to be linked to an organised crime gang.
Yilin Xie (23) of Upper Lisburn Road, Belfast and Siong Shok Goh (44), of Fairview Mews, Dublin, are jointly charged with possessing cannabis with intent to supply and being concerned in the supply of cannabis in March this year.
Speaking through an interpreter at Belfast Magistrates’ Court via video-link from Maghaberry Prison, both defendants confirmed they had received papers in the case from the prosecution.
They declined to say anything, call any witnesses or evidence.
District Judge Steven Keown returned the case to Belfast Crown Court for an arraignment hearing to be fixed.
Mounting an application for Xie to be freed on bail, defence barrister Joel Lindsay told the court a family friend was willing to allow him to use her London home as a bail address with a £20,000 cash surety.
A detective constable told the court that on March 1, 2024, at around 3pm in Osborne Park, south Belfast, police observed a male wearing forensic gloves get out of his grey C220 Mercedes car and approach a black Mercedes vehicle.
The court heard he retrieved a cardboard box from the boot of the black Mercedes, returned to his car before going back to the black vehicle.
“Xie was the driver of the grey Mercedes and there was 15kg of vacuum-packed herbal cannabis in his car,” the detective said.
Following his arrest, police searched his Lisburn Road apartment where herbal cannabis and drug-related paraphernalia were recovered.
In total, 33.5 kg of cannabis was recovered with a street value of £500,000.
Xie, a finance student at the University of Westminster in London, told police he had been invited to Belfast for a holiday by a friend he referred to only as ‘Big Brother’.
This unnamed individual is a member of a Chinese Triad gang with access to firearms, it was claimed.
According to Xie, packages were delivered to his apartment with instructions to take them to the Osborne Park meeting point to his co-accused in a Dublin registered car.
Said the detective: “It was at this point he realised the parcels contained cannabis. Xie said ‘Big Brother’ threatened him with death if he did not carry out the exchanges on his behalf”.
The court heard police believe both defendants were “operating as couriers for an organised crime network”.
The detective added that financial inquiries revealed Xie had used an international money transfer service between December 2022 and July 2023 and deposited and transferred over £140,000 back to China.
Refusing bail, Judge Keown said: “This is clearly a large scale operation involving organised crime with an international element”.