Personal trainer admits to having £10,000 of cocaine

Standing in the dock of Antrim Crown Court on Thursday, Chris Djorjani (39) admitted having the class A drug with intent to supply on November 12 last year while a second count of simple possession of cocaine was “left on the books”.

None of the facts opened at the arraignment but when Djorjani was charged, the court heard that at 4.30pm that Friday, “police had occasion” to stop a Skoda Octavia on Carnlough Road in Ballymena.

Although the car was owned by Djorjani, who is originally from Ballymena but who has been bailed to live on Skeagh Road in Dromara, he was in the passenger seat and when cops told him to stand to one side, he ran off through a field.

A Constable told the court that Djorjani “dropped a package” which he then picked up and he ran through the yard of a farm, jumping over a stone wall into a field where he was arrested.

When police noticed some stones in the wall had been disturbed, a drugs dog was brought into the field and the cocaine was found.

The officer said it had “clearly been pressed” into a block, a technique which “takes an amount of expertise and equipment to do”.

“We have assessed that he is part of a drugs organised crime gang and has links to the South East Antrim UDA,” said the officer, who suggested that with a clear record, Djorjani was a “perfect candidate for supplying”.

That clear record has now been stained and following his confession, Judge Patricia Smyth said that before she could pass sentence “we will need a pre-sentence report”.

Freeing the personal trainer turned drug dealer on bail, she said she would deal with the case in September.