A man appeared in court today to plead his innocence to charges of being in the possession of 1.7 grams of cannabis sporting a cannabis-motif shirt.

Eritrean Awet Estifanos Weldetinsae, 25, was remanded in custody. He was also charged with stealing a mobile phone valued at around €400, handling stolen goods and relapsing.

He was arrested yesterday night in Paceville after patrolling police noticed him acting suspiciously. On seeing the police, he tried to hide the phone and the cannabis resin beneath the tyre of a parked car. He then told the police that the items did not belong to him.

Legal aid lawyer Patrick Valentino did not request bail since the accused has no fixed address.

Police inspector Elton Taliana prosecuted.