Man who imported £49k of cannabis sentenced

Suspended jail term for 35-year-old

Report by BBC Isle of Man: 

A man who imported £49,000 worth of cannabis to the Isle of Man, hidden in the spare tyre of a car, has been sentenced.

Oliver Le-Butt-Seal brought five bags of the drug stashed in the wheel, which was strapped underneath a white car, over on the ferry on 14 December 2022.

The drugs were found by police after Le-Butt Seal, of Lobbs Wood Court in Leicester, was questioned by customs officers about his reason for visiting.

At Douglas Courthouse he was handed a 20-month sentence suspended for two years and an exclusion order banning him from returning to the Island for five years.

The court heard the 35-year-old, whose fingerprints were detected on the cannabis packaging, had been the passenger in the vehicle but prosecutors had found the driver was not involved in the importation.

Le-Butt-Seal pleaded guilty to the importation of cannabis and possession with intent to supply of the drug.

The court was told he had been offered £250 to transport the drugs as well as to clear 'some' of a £7,000 drug debt that he had.

The court heard he had served an additional one year and 10 months in a UK prison for a separate offence as a consequence of the Isle of Man case as well as a positive drug test in the facility.

Handing down the suspended sentence Deemster Graeme Cook said he had taken into account that Le-Butt-Seal had served 'a significant period of time in a UK prison because of the offence here'.

"The only reason I am being so lenient is because of jurisdictional problems across borders," he added.