Two defendants who were involving in shipping more than £18,000 worth of herbal cannabis to the island from the United States have avoided immediate jail terms.

Aalish Marilyn Kissack, 18, and Finlay MacGregor, 22, admitted being concerned in the production of the class B drug with the latter additionally pleading guilty to money laundering and possession of cannabis.

The Court of General Gaol Delivery heard that in February last year a parcel containing 912.6g of herbal cannabis, with the street value of £18,252, was intercepted at the postal sorting office.

It had been posted from the States via the UK to an address on Empress Drive, Douglas.

A controlled delivery was carried out but no one was at home so a ‘sorry we missed you’ card was left.

The post office was contacted to rearrange delivery and Kissack, who occupied the address the parcel was due to be delivered to, was arrested.

She told police: ‘I didn’t do it, I didn’t bring it to the Isle of Man, it wasn’t me.’

Kissack said she was to be paid £1,200 to take delivery of the parcel. Snapchat messages confirmed that she had made the arrangement on behalf of her co-defendant.

Police searched MacGregor’s home in Shore Road, Laxey, and found a small quantity of cannabis, with a street value of just £14, and £2,490 in cash which he denied was the proceeds from the sale of drugs but claimed came from tips from his pizza delivery work.

The investigation found 74 payments, totaling £13,371, had been made into his HSBC account which the prosecution said was the result of criminal activity.

Laurence Vaughan-Williams, representing Kissack, described his client as ‘naive and gullible’. He said she had got involved with the promise of £1,200 but had not received the money and had lost her good character.

‘It’s been a salutary experience for her,’ he said.

Deemster Graeme Cook told Kissack: ‘You have been a very foolish young lady who has become involved in criminality on the face of it for the first time with the involvement of Mr MacGregor.’

He told MacGregor that the 74 payments into the bank account showed he had been ‘at it for a period of time’ and if it had been through him that his co-defendant had got involved then ‘shame on you’.

He handed MacGregor an 18-month sentence suspended for two years with supervision and ordered him to pay £120 costs.

Kissack was handed a 12-month sentence suspended for 18 months with supervision.