Isle of Man resident accepted cannabis worth £19k to wipe drug debt

Police replaced the drugs with the same weight in tea bags

A man who agreed to receive more than £19,500 worth of cannabis through the post to wipe out a drug debt has been handed a suspended sentence.

Michael Brown, 30, was arrested after accepting the package, which police had filled with tea bags to replace the drugs, on 13 February 2020.

The court heard postal staff reported the box as suspicious as it was the third to be sent to Brown that week.

He was handed an 18-month jail term, suspended for two years.

The court heard staff at the Ramsey postal sorting office reported the large brown box to police after receiving two similar packages addressed to Brown previously that week.

When opened, the box contained three sealed silver bags filled with the cannabis.

Officers replaced the drugs with the same weight in tea bags and the package was delivered to Brown's home in Bircham Avenue Close.

'Debt cancelled'

Brown was arrested for importing the drug and attempting to possess it after signing for the parcel.

A search of his home found a small quantity of the drug in a glass jar on the floor along with a grinder.

The court heard he had agreed to accept the package to pass on to someone else in order to have a £300 drug debt "cancelled".

Prosecutors said there was no evidence on his mobile phone to indicate he had been dealing the drug.

Suspending the sentence at Douglas Courthouse, Deemster Graeme Cook warned Brown there would be "only one outcome" if he were to reoffend during the next two years.

He was also handed a two-year supervision order.