A man has been jailed for 2½ years after more than three kilograms of cannabis worth $178,000 was found in his luggage.

John Alvin Woods, 32, was found guilty of importing the drugs and possession with intent to supply in Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

The court heard that on September 7 last year, customs officers at LF Wade International Airport searched two suitcases belonging to Woods and found six packages of plant material in the lining.

When questioned about the packages — which contained 3,573 grams of cannabis — Woods claimed that he did not know they were there.

He told the court he had bought the suitcases from a street peddler in New York the night before he was due to return to the Island. He said he had inspected the bags and noticed nothing unusual.

Woods said he headed back to his hotel at about 1am but could not sleep, so packed his bags and took them to the lobby, where he played video games until leaving for the airport at 5am.

Prosecutor Nicole Smith described Woods’s defence of not knowing as an “affront to common sense”, adding that he “would have had to have known that the drugs were in the luggage”.

She said that he would have noticed the packages because of their size, shape and weight when he inspected the cases and while he packed.

Magistrate Archibald Warner said Woods’s defence was “a nonsense story”.

He said that it was inconceivable that Woods bought the suitcases with the drugs in them or that someone had managed to hide the drugs in them afterwards.

Mr Warner sentenced Woods to 2½ years’ imprisonment on each count, with the sentences to run concurrently.

In a separate matter, Megael Burch 44, was given jail time for possessing 8.25g of cannabis.

The court heard on Tuesday that Burch had two plastic twists containing plant material when police officers attended his Southampton residence on May 16 last year.

Mr Warner sentenced Burch, who is already serving time at Westgate Correctional Facility, to 30 days’ imprisonment, to run concurrently.

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