Four Philadelphia men are headed for trial on drug trafficking charges stemming from an arrest last month that netted police narcotics with a street value of $23,000.

District Judge Pete Shaffer ordered the defendants bound over for court following a nearly 90-minute preliminary hearing Monday.

In the meantime, the suspects — Nafis Brown, 21; Mutatie Johnson, 24; Maleek Long, 24; Jakyle Young, 25 — will remain in the Butler County Prison on $125,000 bail each.

Butler police Patrolman David Villotti, the lone witness to testify at the hearing, recounted how he and other officers on patrol duty came upon the suspects about 2:30 a.m. Jan. 30.

He said he got a radio call from Lt. James Hollobaugh describing a man dressed in a gray hooded sweat shirt and a black ski cap who appeared to be ducking from him at the Flowers Apartment building on West Brady Street.

“It’s a high drug area,” Villotti testified.

The officer said he and Hollobaugh met up and followed fresh footprints in the snow, searching for the unknown man.

It wasn’t long before they received a radio call from Patrolman Nathan Shulik, who reported seeing someone matching the description of the man. The man, subsequently identified as Brown, was now in a car with three other men.

Villotti said that police had not seen any of the men before that night.

The officers asked for identification. Johnson and Long had Pennsylvania ID cards.

Brown and Young had no ID. Those same two also initially gave bogus names.

At some point, Hollobaugh called the station to request back up help from Butler Township police. Four troopers also were sent to help.

While at the car and talking to the men, the city officers told the defendants to keep their hands up and in sight.

“(Long) appeared shaky and very nervous,” Villotti testified. Eventually, Long dropped his hands, at least for a moment, and he was ordered out of the car.

Long was patted down. Villotti said police found only a pair of scissors in his pants pocket.

One by one the others were taken out of the vehicle and searched.

Villotti said Johnson was found with 251 stamp bags of suspected heroin in a plastic bag hidden in his crotch area.

Brown, who was behind the wheel of the car, was found with 12 bags of suspected heroin in a cargo pants pocket.

Young, the last of the four to be searched, also had a plastic bag hidden in his crotch area.

The bag, Villotti testified, “contained 155 individually packaged suspected rocks of crack cocaine and 26 stamp bags of suspected heroin.”

The four men were handcuffed, taken to the station and searched again. Brown was found with 150 bags of crack and six more bags of heroin.

In Johnson’s boot, police found a rock of crack. The officers also found a small amount of marijuana hidden in Johnson’s and Long’s clothing.

Later, Villotti said, police found a plastic bag containing 241 bags of suspected heroin on the floor of a Butler Township cruiser used to transport Long to the station.

Police believe while Long was in the patrol car he managed to get the contraband off his body and onto the vehicle floor, where he tried to hide it from officers.

On cross-examination, the defendants’ attorneys questioned Villotti on the police decision to stop and search their clients.

The officer admitted that none of the defendants had committed any crime up until the time they were searched.

Villotti said police encountered the suspects after initially seeing Brown, who they believed was trying to hide from them in a “high crime area.”

Because of that, he said, and after two of the defendants gave phony names, police had reasonable suspicion to conduct a temporary detention and pat down, which led to the discovery of the suspected drugs.

Shaffer agreed that the case should move to Butler County court.

All four defendants are charged with felony and misdemeanor drug possession and conspiracy to sell drugs.

Additionally, Brown and Young are charged with false identification to police and Long is charged with tampering with evidence.

Police also cited Brown for driving with a suspended license.