'Trusted courier' jailed over cannabis haul in car

A man described in court as a "trusted courier" has been jailed for two years after being found with more than four kilos of cannabis in his car.

Ivan Chan, 38, from Creswick Avenue, Essex, pleaded guilty at Londonderry Crown Court on Tuesday.

Police discovered eight vacuum bags of cannabis in his car when it was stopped on the Culmore Road in Derry on 4 August 2024.

Sentencing, Judge Neil Rafferty said: "It is quite clear he was acting in the role of a trusted courier making deliveries to known people throughout the island of Ireland."

The court was told police also found four handwritten lists of addresses in Northern Ireland and in Galway and Dublin, in the Republic of Ireland.

The judge also ordered that £300 found inside the car should be donated to the local branch of Marie Curie.

Judge Rafferty said Chan, who has been in custody since his arrest, had previously lived in Ballymena, County Antrim, and Holywood in County Down.

The court was told Chan had previously worked on oil rigs and who opened a shop when he moved to Ballymena.

He became involved in supplying drugs after he was forced to close his shop due to the economic downturn.

Judge Rafferty said the defendant had become a delivery driver for drugs gangs.

"He had no drugs issues himself and never used drugs and had no previous convictions until he pleaded guilty to this criminality," the judge added.