Three County Antrim men have been jailed for the roles they played in a plot to supply cocaine.

The trio from Greenisland were among six men arrested following a covert police operation in November 2020.

Clifford George Irons (49) from Shannagh Avenue played a leading role in the criminal enterprise and was handed a six-year sentence.

Daniel Vance (38) from Glenkeen Drive and 44-year old David Christopher Weir from Rossmore Green were deemed to have played lesser roles.

Vance had a 32-month sentence imposed whilst Weir was handed a 28-month sentence.

All the terms imposed upon the three men were divided equally between prison and licence by Judge Laura Ievers KC.

The seizures were made as part of an investigation into the organised crime activities of the South East Antrim UDA.

Belfast Crown Court heard that at 21:00 GMT on November 19 2020, a Vauxhall Astra car was seized by police following a search under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

It had been parked unlocked in a public yard in Greenisland and bags of white powder suspected to be cocaine were uncovered.

The bags were later forensically examined and confirmed to be cocaine with a purity level of 7%.

At 12:30 the following day, one kilogram of cocaine with a purity of 60% was uncovered in a hide in the fence line of the public yard.

Later that day, six self-sealed bags containing 165 grams of cocaine with a purity of 7% were recovered from a Ford Mondeo car found unlocked in the yard.

In total, around 1.5 kilograms of cocaine were recovered during the operation led by the National Crime Agency (NCA), working as part of the Paramilitary Crime Task Force (PCTF).

A covert listening device had also been installed in a vehicle used by one of the criminal gang and the recordings gleaned from this were analysed.

As a result, police made a series of arrests between March and May 2021.

A joint charge of conspiring together to possess cocaine with intent to supply on dates between October 22 and November 21 2020 was initially denied by all six, who subsequently admitted their guilt.

Three men have already been sentenced, whilst Irons, Vance and Weir were sentenced on Thursday.

It is the Crown's case that Irons was a leading member of the organised crime gang who stored the cocaine in the two vehicles.

The Crown also asserted that Vance and Weir were willing and active members of the gang acting under direction who knew about the cocaine and where it was being stored.

Judge Ievers described the offending as "conduct with a view to supplying drugs on a commercial level".

Irons' barrister Brendan Kelly KC said it was conceded by Irons during the complication of his pre-sentence report that he played a "significant role" but said "there will always be those higher up the chain".

Describing his client's role as "limited", Vance's barrister Sean Mullan said he was "working under the direction of others".

Mullan also raised Vance's "prolonged" and "chronic" mental health issues, which "clearly restrict" his daily life and which he has sought assistance for.

Weir's barrister Gavan Duffy KC said his client has "accepted his role" in the enterprise and had already spent a period on remand.

Duffy told Judge Ievers that in the six years since the offending, Weir has "lived a completely law-abiding life" and has not re-offended.

Judge Ievers branded drugs as a "scourge on our society" and said "had this criminal activity not been intercepted, the consequences would have been devastating".