Three men have appeared before Belfast Magistrate's Court charged in connection with the largest ever cocaine seizure
in Northern Ireland.
All three were refused bail and have been remanded in custody to appear again in January.
Two of the men, Terence Telford with an address in Wolfhill Road in Belfast and Terence Bean with an address in Oldham in England, were arrested at the scene of the seizure.
Specialist Officers from the PSNI's Organised Crime Branch arrested them after stopping two cars travelling along the Boucher Road in South Belfast at around 9am on Saturday.
There they recovered cocaine with an estimated street value of £5m (€5.6m).
The third man, Michael Reeves, who gave an address in Carrick Hill in Belfast, was arrested around 9pm on Saturday.
The court heard evidence from police that the men were part of an organised gang.
Lorry-driver Mr Bean, 62, said he had been approached by a man claiming to be from a religious organisation, who asked him to transport some religious tracts from England to Belfast.
He claimed that he was guilty of ‘complete and utter naivety’ and that he didn't know what was in the parcels.
Mr Telford, a 38-year-old father-of-three, faces the same charges. Mr Reeves, 28, is accused to conspiracy to supply cocaine.
All three have been remanded in custody to appear again before Belfast Magistrate's Court on 18 January.
