Portuguese nationals charged over heroin in Cookstown

The men aged 31, 34, 39 and two 48-year-olds, are all foreign nationals and believed to be from Portugal.

Police raided seven properties across Cookstown yesterday morning at 8am and all five were arrested and charged as a result.

The adresses or areas in which the properties are located will not be revealed, although police have said they were all within the town itself and not in the surrounding areas.

Four of the five men applied for bail when they appeared before District Judge Bernie Kelly in Omagh Magistrates’ Court at 10am today, but their applications were refused without being heard.

Judge Kelly said she would “not free them onto the streets to continue their activities to the detriment of the youth of our community”.

The men are next due at court when they appear at Dungannon Magistrates’ Court, via videolink from Maghaberry Prison on September 4.