T-shirt cannabis courier jailed

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A man caught at Stranraer ferry port with £200,000 of cannabis hidden among T-shirts has been jailed for three years and nine months.

Keith Jones, 23, of Willowbank Gardens, Antrim Road, North Belfast, admitted the offence on 1 October last year.

The call centre worker was stopped at the Stena Line embarkation point on his way to Northern Ireland.

Lord Macphail said Jones could have faced a five-year sentence but it would be reduced because of his guilty plea.

He also ordered the forfeiture of a VW Caravelle vehicle Jones was travelling in when he was detained.

'Full responsibility'

"I accept you were acting as a courier and were to receive only a small amount of money," the judge told the High Court in Edinburgh.

"But it has been said many times in this court that couriers must accept full responsibility for being an integral part of the drugs trade."

The court heard that Jones, who was out of work at the time and in debt, was to be paid £200 after he was recruited to drive the vehicle from Belfast to Stranraer before making the return trip.

Defence solicitor advocate Murray Macara said his client was not aware of the value of the consignment.