Omagh man remanded in custody after cannabis seized from car boot

A MAN arrested after police seized ten kilogrammes of cannabis from the boot of a car outside Omagh yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon has claimed he was forced to collect the drugs or face his family farm being burned down, a court has heard.

Jack Hamilton Elkin (32), of Gillygooley Road, was brought before Strabane Magistrates Court this morning facing a total of five charges.
Elkin is charged with two counts of possessing a Class B controlled drug, namely cannabis, and also possessing a Class C controlled drug, namely pregabalin.

He is further charged with possessing a Class B drug with intent to supply and being concerned with making an offer to supply a Class B drug to another.

All the offences are alleged to have occurred yesterday.

A PSNI detective constable told the court he believed he could connect the defendant to all five charges.

The court heard that, at 5pm yesterday, police stopped a Hyundai vehicle being driven by the defendant on Doogary Road and conducted a search under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

Officers uncovered two black bin bags from the boot of the car, each containing vaccuum-sealed packages with five kilos of herbal cannabis in each.

Elkin was the only person in the vehicle at the time it was stopped, the court heard. After he was arrested, police conducted a further search of his home address.

A small amount of cannabis for personal use and strips of pregabalin were seized.

During two interviews yesterday, the defendant stated he was off sick from work but had previously been earning £1,200 before tax on a monthly basis.

Elkin further claimed that he had a drug addiction that was costing him £1,000 per month and that he owed a debt because of this. However, he wouldn’t disclose how much he owed or to whom.

In the second interview, the defendant alleged that he was told to rent a car and collect the packages or his family would be subjected to violence and the farm would be burned.

However, Elkin refused to comment on where he had been or who he was bringing the drugs to.

Although police had seized the defendant’s mobile phone, he further refused to provide a passcode or PIN to allow access to the device.

Objecting to bail, the detective told the court that Elkin was likely to commit further offences.

He claimed that if the defendant had been forced to carry out the offending in order to pay off a debt, then there was no reason why he wouldn’t be forced to do so again.

The detective also claimed that there was a risk to the defendant’s safety, as he was “told he was going to be hit, his family was going to be hit and the farm was going to be burned down”.

The officer further told the court that Elkin had collected the vehicle in Omagh at 11am and didn’t return until 5pm. This meant that there was a six-hour window when he could have been anywhere across the North.

The defendant was still refusing to say who he collected the drugs for and who he was delivering them to, the court heard.

Applying for bail, defence solicitor Sean-Pol Begley told the court that his client had strong ties to the local area, had an address that was suitable to police and also there was a surety available.

But District Judge Alana McSorley observed, “Apart from his own account, I see no evidence of duress.”

Refusing bail due to the risk of witness interference and further offending, the judge remanded the defendant in custody to appear before Omagh Magistrates Court on July 11.