Man who imported £49k of cannabis sentenced
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, 35, 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.
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 finger prints 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 Cook said he had taken into account that he 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.
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Oliver Le-Butt-Seal was caught with the cannabis hidden in a spare tyre strapped underneath a car. Read More
