An alleged drug trafficker says the estimated $4800 worth of cocaine he was arrested with in Woden does not belong to him, with a court told he claims to have found it on the floor of a pub toilet.

That explanation "defies belief", a prosecutor told the ACT Magistrates Court on Saturday morning when plumber Ricci James-Ward was refused bail.

Mr James-Ward, 22, was arrested on Friday night and charged early the next morning with trafficking in cocaine and four counts of resisting police.

Court documents show he came to the attention of police when two members of the public pointed him out to officers who were walking through Fenway Public House.

One of these people told them the Evatt man had been regularly going in and out of the toilets with others, while the second claimed to have seen him in there exchanging an item for cash.

Suspicious that Mr James-Ward was supplying drugs, police asked him for a word outside.

The 22-year-old was allegedly argumentative with officers, who claim to have spent about half an hour trying to convince him to let them search him for drugs without needing to use force.

Police say they were eventually left with no choice but to restrain the man, with six officers required to bring him under control as he allegedly resisted aggressively.

"Such was his level of resistance he kicked one police officer in the head," court documents allege.

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Police claim to have ultimately found a dozen clip seal bags containing a little more than 12 grams of cocaine, which represents more than twice the minimum traffickable quantity of the drug, inside a satchel the 22-year-old was carrying.

When Mr James-Ward appeared in court via audio-visual link from a remote room, a prosecutor opposed bail because of what she said was a likelihood of him interfering with evidence or witnesses.

Duty lawyer Hugh Jorgensen nevertheless applied for the plumber to be released.

He said police had expressed concerns that Mr James-Ward would delete important information from his phone, but officers had seized the device and would no doubt have already obtained anything they needed from it.

Mr Jorgensen said a bail condition banning Mr James-Ward from going to Fenway Public House would also address any risk of him interfering with people there.

The lawyer told the court that when he spoke to Mr James-Ward, the 22-year-old claimed to have merely picked the drugs up from the floor of the pub toilet.

This prompted the prosecutor to urge magistrate Robert Cook to consider why anyone would leave thousands of dollars worth of cocaine in such a place.

She also drew attention to the comments members of the public had made to police about Mr James-Ward's suspicious visits to the toilets.

Mr Cook ultimately refused bail, saying he was not satisfied he could put in place appropriate conditions.

He said police had indicated an intention to continue investigating where Mr James-Ward might fit into the wider drug trade in the ACT.

The magistrate also noted the seriousness of the allegations against the defendant, adding that it "weighs heavily on the courts" to refuse bail to a young man with no criminal record.

Mr James-Ward is next due in court on November 15, when Mr Cook said he would be expected to enter pleas.

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