A couple was yesterday jointly charged with drug possession near a church, when they appeared in Magistrates' Court.

Debra Furtado, 25, pleaded not guilty to the charge while her boyfriend, Kristopher Simons, 21, pleaded guilty.

The court heard from Senior Crown counsel Carrington Mahoney, officers were on patrol January 11 as part of Operation Safer Streets in the Cobbs Hill area near Gospel Hall Church.

Officers smelled the controlled drug cannabis burning from a grey car and approached it with a sniffer dog where Simons was standing outside and Furtado was inside the car.

The dog alerted the officers to a handbag on the ground in the car. Furtado said it belonged to her when officers said it would be searched under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

During the search, officers found a plastic bag containing plant-like material. She said: "That's not mine. You must have put it there".

Furtado was arrested and taken to the Hamilton Police Station where it was revealed the drugs were 5.35 grammes of cannabis.

In April, when she went to answer Police bail at the Southside Police Station, Simons told the Police the drugs belonged to him and he threw it in the bag when he saw them approaching the car.

Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner dropped the charges against Furtado and gave Simons, of Ord Road, Warwick, a $1,000 fine for drug possession and an additional $1,500 for having it in an increased penalty zone, near the church.