Four men involved in a plot to bring more than £300,000 of cannabis to the island on a fishing boat have been jailed.

A fifth man, Jordan Halligan-Bunce, who actually ended up thwarting the operation by deliberately grounding a rigid inflatable boat (RIB), has been handed a suspended sentence.

The court heard how Jamie Smith organised for a shipment of 15kg of cannabis, along with a number of vapes laced with a cannabis derivative, to be brought to the island by fishing boat from Whitehaven on November 17, 2023.

He offered John Skillen – the owner of the vessel Boy Shayne - £2,000 to use the boat to pick up the drugs from the Cumbrian town.

Rather than sail the vessel himself, Skillen asked his captain Jordan Corkill to skipper the boat.

The plan was to sail back to Laxey bay where the RIB – owned by Ashley Harrison – would be used to bring the drugs into a cove. Harrison recruited Halligan-Bunce to drive the RIB but once Halligan-Bunce realised he was part of a drug smuggling operation, he ran the RIB aground in Castletown.

This forced a change of plan and the Boy Shayne was sailed into the Battery Pier in Douglas.

But unbeknown to the men, police were already on their trail and officers from the Serious and Organised Crime Unit were waiting for them.

At around 9.45pm, as the Boy Shayne sailed into the outer harbour and moored alongside Battery Pier, officers saw Skillen arrive in his vehicle and take a holdall from one of the crew members.

Police swooped in and arrested the men. The holdall was seized and was later found to contain approximately 15.5kg of cannabis with an estimated street value of £310,000. It also contained 98 cannabis vapes with a street value more than £3,000.

All five men appeared before Acting Deemster Bernard Richmond at the Court of General Gaol Delivery for sentencing on Wednesday.

Smith, 37, of Ballacutchel Road, Douglas, was deemed the senior player and main organiser and previously admitted two counts of importing cannabis to the island. He had not long got out of jail after committing similar offences.

In mitigation, defence advocate Peter Taylor said his client now accepted he had problems he needed to deal with, something he had never previously admitted. He was jailed for a total of five years.

Skillen, 44, of Archallagan Terrace in Foxdale, previously admitted two counts of possession of cannabis with intent to supply and two of being concerned in the production of the drug.

Defence advocate Stephen Wood said his client had been a hard-working family man with a successful business who threw it all away for £2,000. He was jailed for a total of three years and nine months.

Corkill, 27, of Kerroo Coar, Peel, previously admitted importing cannabis and being concern in its supply.

Defence advocate Paul Rogers said his client had been a fisherman since he was 16 years old who was also a hard-working family man. He was jailed for three years and six months.

Harrison, 36, of Kerrowmoar, Sulby previously admitted two counts of importing cannabis.

Paul Glover, representing him, described him as a successful businessman who had now lost everything. He was jailed for three years and 11 months.

The role of Halligan-Bunce, 21, of Bromet Road, Castletown, was deemed a much lesser one and, coupled with his decision to try and thwart operation by grounding the RIB, he was handed a 21-month prison sentence suspended for two years having previously been found guilty at trial of producing cannabis.