Three men are to be sentenced next month in connection with the single largest seizure of class A controlled drugs in the Isle of Man Constabulary’s history.
Michael Ball, 41, was convicted following a three-day trial last week of smuggling to the island just under 2kg of heroin and 1.25kg cocaine, worth up to £750,000.
Co-accused Justin Fayle and David Alsop have previously pleaded guilty to possessing the drugs with intent to supply.
All three have been remanded in custody ahead of their sentencing on October 31.
The jury at the Court of General Gaol Delivery was told that Ball has smuggled the class A drugs to the island hidden in a wheel he had fastened to the underside of his Mercedes Sprinter van before boarding the ferry from Liverpool.
He brought his two young boys along to give his trip a ‘veil of legitimacy’, prosecutor Roger Kane told the court.
The court heard they arrived in Douglas at 10.45pm on Saturday, October 21 last year.
They had booked a room at the Ascot Hotel but the defendant had yet to pay so instead he parked his van at the Summerland site with the intention of sleeping there for the night.
At 2am, passing police officers became suspicious when they saw the van parked with its engine running. They carried out a search but no drugs were found.
The following day, Ball drove to Lheannag Park in Anagh Coar, the home address of Justin Fayle. He removed the wheel from the underside of the vehicle and Fayle took it inside and removed the drugs using specialist tools.
What both men did not realise was that an undercover police operation was underway.
Officers observed David Alsop of Ballacottier Meadow, Douglas, arriving at Lheannag Park in his Audi Q2 to collect the drugs.
Police followed Alsop along the Promenade and swooped after a forced stop. The bag of heroin and cocaine was seized.
Fayle was arrested at his home where the wheel which had been cut open was recovered from a bedroom.
Ball was arrested when he arrived at the Ascot Hotel. He had £210 in cash on him.
Interviewed by police he initially gave no comment responses but then subsequently claimed he was returning a wheel as a favour to the friend of a stranger called John Boy he had met in a pub.
He denied knowing or suspecting the wheel contained drugs.
The prosecution described the defendant’s account as fantasy, illogical and not supported by the evidence. Ball, of Old Mill Lane, Formby, denied production of heroin and cocaine and supplying both drugs but was found guilty by the jury of all four charges.
The heroin weighed a total of 1,997.6g with a street value of between £199,760 and £499,400 and the cocaine weighed a total of 1,247.4g with a street value of between £124,740 and £249,480.