A man allegedly caught with $15,000 worth of ecstasy on a train in Wangaratta remains in custody after successfully keeping his matter in the lower court. The 41-year-old appeared at Wangaratta Magistrates’ Court via a prison link last Thursday facing a charge of being in possession of a commercial quantity of drugs. The court heard on 22 June this year the accused boarded an XPT train from Seymour to Sydney. Staff onboard the train notified police the accused was “causing trouble” on the train. About 10:24pm Wangaratta police boarded the train at the Wangaratta Railway Station and approached the accused, who allegedly gave officers a false name. An ID check of the 41-year-old found there had been five warrants out for his arrest, which included a $1000 bail surety. Police searched the man and inside his tennis bag, they allegedly uncovered 75g of MDMA tablets, which had an estimated street value of $15,000. The accused allegedly told police the tablets were his, but they were not drugs. Defence counsel Simon O’Halloran raised issues with the legality of the police search, saying his client’s behaviour with police didn’t warrant a need to be searched. Magistrate Amina Bhai granted the application for the matter to be heard in the lower court and adjourned it for mention for 26 October.
