A MAN had 59 ecstasy tablets in his boxer shorts and cannabis and amphetamine hidden between his buttocks while he drank in a Worcester pub, a court heard.

Drugs with a total street value of up to £1,500 were eventually seized by police after they arrested Simon Peplow.

Tariq Shakoor, prosecuting at Worcester Crown Court, said a drug detection dog discovered a further 155 grammes of cannabis resin during a search of Peplow's home in Rogers Hill, Worcester.

The 23-year-old has denied four counts of possession of drugs with intent to supply.

Two officers arrested Peplow in The Postal Order pub in Foregate Street on Tuesday, April 18, this year. Mr Shakoor said the ecstasy was in two plastic bags down his boxer shorts.

In a bank bag between his buttocks were 13 individual wraps of amphetamine in cling film and a wrap containing 23.9 grammes of cannabis.

The cannabis at his home was found in a bedroom inside a cabinet.

Mr Shakoor said Peplow denied being a drug peddler and claimed he was "paranoid" without a large quantity of drugs on him for his own use.

He insisted he took 20 of the tablets a day to give him "a buzz" but did not know they were ecstasy.

Peplow said he had been earning £300 a week until recently but lost his job after injuring his hand. He relied on his mother and girlfriend for cash.

He claimed to have bought the ecstasy at £1 a tablet and paid £250 for the other drugs to keep him supplied for a month.

But Mr Shakoor said: "The sheer quantity and variety of drugs on his person can only lead to the inference that he intended to supply them."

PC Chris Percival confirmed that police had originally gone to the pub to arrest another man for criminal damage.

But they knew Peplow was wanted for not answering police bail on another matter and arrested him.

The trial continues.