A 32-YEAR-OLD Chinese man who admitted possessing cannabis and intent to supply has been jailed for 30 months.
Qi Lin, with an address in Tyldesely in Manchester, also pleaded guilty at Belfast Crown Court on Monday to laundering more than £4,000 in November 2014.
Judge Gordon Kerr QC said, while Lin was described as being on the 'bottom rung', he considered that he had played a significant role in what was a well planned operation to bring drugs into Northern Ireland.
Judge Kerr said that Lin, although caught red-handed, had not accepted his guilt when questioned by police, or when initially charged. However, he added, Lin was entitled to some credit for his guilty pleas, and reduced his three-year sentence by six months.
Earlier prosecution lawyer Philip Henry told the court, Post Office staff were suspicious of a brown cardboard box addressed to a flat in Carrickfergus from England in November 2014.
The box, found to contain 4.5 kilos of herbal cannabis, was subsequently delivered to to the flat by police.
Lin was in the flat and a search later uncovered two other boxes, with traces of the drug in them, which the Post Office confirmed had been delivered six days earlier.
In addition to £1,000 in cash being found police also uncovered bank documents showing lodgements of £4,000.
When questioned, Lin made the case he was asked to "effectively house sit" and accepted the parcels.
