A Warwick man was today fined $500 after pleading guilty to cocaine possession.

Alexander Ming, 56, was being detained at Hamilton Police Station on February 20 when officers observed him trying to place something into his shoe. Officers searched Ming’s shoe and found a clear plastic bag containing a brown paper wrap with a white powder inside.

Prosecutor Larissa Burgess told Magistrates’ Court that, when asked what the substance was by officers, Ming replied it was his “medicine”.

Subsequent analysis confirmed that the white powder was 0.8 grams of cocaine.

Ming has a “quite lengthy” record of previous convictions dating back to 1983, Ms Burgess told Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner, who ordered the defendant to pay $500 or face 30 days imprisonment.

Asked if he had anything to say, Ming told Mr Warner: “Not on that subject, no.”