James McAleese, 43, Kevin McPolin, 33, and Niall Mallon, 39, were convicted at Newry Crown Court after pleading guilty to fraudulently importing cannabis and possessing a Class B drug with intent to supply.[1][2] The drugs, worth an estimated £1 million, were found concealed in a fuel container on a trailer at a County Down property on 30 March 2018, and officers seized £1,500 in cash in a follow-up search.[1][2]

Working with Ireland’s Garda under the cross-border Joint Agency Task Force, police traced where the container had entered the Republic and how McAleese organised its journey north.[1][2] Judge Gordon Kerr jailed McAleese, the organiser who devised the concealment, for three years, McPolin, who drove the tanker from Dublin, for two and a half years, and Mallon, found to have played a lesser role, for two years, each half in custody and half on supervised licence.[1][2]