Two people were today jailed for their role in importing more than £24,000-worth of cocaine to the island inside a microwave.

In August 2021 the parcel containing 248.7 grams (£24,870 value) of the class A drug, hidden inside the workings of a microwave, was addressed to and accepted by Kirsty Louise Quilliam, aged 40, at her home in Hillside Terrace in Douglas.

She was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison for her role in the importation, with another three months added for breaching a previous suspended sentence for a violent offence.

Thomas James McBurnie, aged 25, of Koinney Avenue, Douglas was sentenced to six years and 10 months for his role in picking the microwave up from Quilliam’s address and loading it into a white van at the rear lane of the property.

He was also in breach of a suspended sentence for a previous conviction of grievous bodily harm, for which a year was added to the drugs sentence.

A third member of the plot to import the drugs, Kyle Brian Molyneux, aged 26, described by Deemster Graeme Cook as ‘the ringleader’ is due to be sentenced in August.

Two other individuals were also involved, as revealed by text and Snapchat app communications on the phones of McBurnie and Quilliam.

The trio were caught as part of Operation Achilles, a joint effort between Manx and UK police aimed at tackling organised crime groups.

McBurnie and Quilliam had pleaded guilty to the importation of drugs, with Quilliam saying that she did not know what type of drugs were within the microwave, and Mr McBurnie stating that he did not know there were drugs at all, and that he was just picking it up for a friend.

In McBurnie’s case Deemster Cook described this as ‘absolute rubbish’, saying: ‘You knew what you were going there for and what was inside [the package].’

Due to the amount of Class A drug involved, the starting point for both individuals was set at nine years.

In both cases Deemster Cook gave credit for their guilty pleas and the human rights of their respective children, reducing the sentences accordingly.

Deemster Cook described his sentence as being ‘a deterrent’ to people getting into the organised drug trade.

He said: ‘The importation of drugs to this island is something we would like to extinguish, indeed we may well not be able to extinguish it completely, but I will do everything in my power from this bench to stop it, or at least dramatically reduce it.’