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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Preliminary hearings have been delayed until the latter half of the year for three men charged following a drug bust in Yellowknife on Nov. 24.

Albertans Adrian Graves, Ali Ashraf and Mohamed Jomha have chosen a Supreme Court trial by judge alone with a preliminary inquiry. Their choice was registered through a lawyer in territorial court on Tuesday.

All three men will be tried separately on four charges: possession of cocaine for the purposes of trafficking, possession of marijuana for the purposes of trafficking, trafficking cocaine and possessing property obtained through crime.

Graves' preliminary inquiry will be held on Aug. 4, Jomha's on Oct. 1 and Ashraf, on Nov. 19.

Each hearing has been scheduled to take two days.

Defence lawyer Stephen Shabala, who acted as counsel on behalf of Sid Tarrabain and Jamel Chadi - Edmonton lawyers who will be representing Ashraf and Jomha, respectively - said the dates were set because that's when the southern lawyers would next be available to deal with the matters.

All three men were charged after the RCMP raided three downtown residences, during an operation called "Project Germane."

As a result, police seized two pounds of crack cocaine, eight pounds of marijuana, a .45 calibre semi-automatic handgun, and a large, undisclosed amount of cash.

Graves, presently in custody, was the only one of the three men present in court Tuesday. He sat in the prisoners' dock in a white tank-top, revealing tattoos up his arm.

Graves is also facing two motor vehicle charges, including driving without insurance and failing to carry a drivers license while operating a vehicle. These matters are scheduled to be dealt with at Graves' trial, said Crown prosecutor Mike Himmelman.

Ashraf also has another cocaine possession charge that is scheduled to be dealt with in his trial.

Each hearing has been scheduled to take over two days.

"That's the estimate based on what counsel have discussed in terms of the evidence we will likely be calling," said Himmelman.