A Deemster has expressed concerns over the growing problem of criminal cash being sent from the island in the post.

Last month bus driver Riounel Danne Garcia was handed a supervision order for trying to send a parcel containing £8,000 of criminal cash in the post to an address in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, with an attempt to evade police sniffer dogs by adding in air freshener.

On Friday, a similar case arose in which 23-year-old Scott MacDuffie sent two parcels of cash to an address. also in Dewsbury, amounting to £12,390 in total.

During sentencing at the Court of General Gaol Delivery on Friday, Deemster Graeme Cook told MacDuffie: ‘This type of offence appears to be coming more and more apparent on the island and people like you are getting involved in organised crime. It must stop.’

Roger Kane, prosecuting, told the court police with sniffer dogs were at the Post Office headquarters in Douglas monitoring mail on August 2, last year.

The sniffer dog indicated one parcel which was opened and found to contain cash which had been wrapped in newspaper, sealed in plastic and put in a sock.

Baby wipes were also inside to try and mask the smell. The amount inside totalled £10,090.

A further parcel was also seized from the post office in Anagh Coar which was similarly packaged and was found to contain £2,300.

Police launched an investigation and fingerprints found inside each parcel were analysed and found to be those of MacDuffie.

In March 2025, police attended MacDuffie’s home in Victoria Avenue, Onchan, but he was away. However, they spoke to him on the phone and he attended police headquarters on his return.

After giving two ‘no comment’ interviews, MacDuffie was arrested and charged with two counts of attempting to remove criminal property from the island.

MacDuffie provided a basis of plea in which he admitted sending the parcels and, while knowing it was linked to criminality, he had no idea how much money there was or where it had come from. He said he was ‘remorseful’.

Deemster Cooke took into account MacDuffie has no previous convictions, had expressed remorse and that positive references about him had been submitted.

He told MacDuffie the crimes passed the custody threshold but that, due to the mitigation, he was prepared to suspend any prison sentence.

MacDuffie was sentenced to four months in prison for the first offence of attempting to remove criminal property from the island which was suspended for 12 months with 12 months supervision. He was handed two months in prison suspended for 12 months for the second offence to run concurrently.

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