Alleged drug dealers banned from Belfast centre

Two alleged heroin dealers were today banned by a court from south Belfast, the centre of the city’s nightlife.

The two were among 15 people charged with drugs offences following a major police offensive against alleged dealers in south Belfast and Ballymena, Co Antrim, yesterday.

More than 200 police officers were involved in raids codenamed Operation Galiot which followed months of planning and intelligence work during which officers went undercover posing as heroin addicts.

The exclusion order was made against Paul Quinn and his partner, Kerry Nixon, both 26, when they appeared at Belfast Magistrates Court.

The both faced charges of possessing heroin and possessing the drug with intent to supply it to others.

A detective constable told the court that when they were arrested in south Belfast yesterday police seized 10 ‘‘deals’’ of heroin with a value of £300.

The couple were described in court as having no fixed abode. The officer said they had a ‘‘nomadic lifestyle’’ and had lived at a number of addresses in south Belfast’s flatland in recent months.

The magistrate remanded them until April 12. For each personal bail was set at £500 with a surety of £1,000 with the conditions that they live with their parents, report three times a week to a local police station and are excluded from south Belfast.

Another man arrested during the Drugs Squad operation, Kevin Kelly, 32, of no fixed abode, was remanded in custody by the court for a week charged with four counts of unlawfully supplying heroin on three successive days at the end of last November and a day in early December.

A woman arrested and charged with possession of cocaine in the same swoops in Belfast and released on police bail last night failed to appear. The court was told she was sick and the case was adjourned for two weeks.

Four men who appeared at Ballymena Magistrates Court were all remanded in custody for a week on a variety of charges ranging from supplying cocaine and heroin to offering to supply Class A drugs.

Three of the men had bail applications refused while the fourth did not seek it.

Seven more were remanded in custody when they appeared in court in Larne, Co Antrim. Five - four men from Ballymena and a woman from nearby Ballymoney - were charged with the unlawful supply of Class A drugs.

The seventh was charged with making threats to kill and offering to supply heroin.

A total of 18 people were arrested by the Drugs Squad during the operation. Three were released without charge, two pending further police inquiries.