A man caught with more than 5kg of cannabis stashed in his suitcases has been convicted of drug importation.

Zicco Pearman, 25, of Rockaway Drive, Southampton, had denied any knowledge of the drugs.

During his Supreme Court trial, the jury heard that on the afternoon of July 30 last year, Pearman arrived on the Island on a JetBlue flight after spending four days in New York. His belongings were subsequently searched by customs officers, who discovered that the inside lining of one of Pearman’s suitcases was backwards and inside out. Asked about it, he told the officer that he had purchased the suitcase from someone on the street for $59 while he was away.

The customs officer subsequently removed the lining and found six black packages hidden in the base of the suitcase.

A further six packages were found hidden in a similar fashion in his second suitcase. In total, the 12 packages were said to contain 5,367 grams of cannabis, worth more than $250,000 if sold on the streets of Bermuda.

After the drugs were discovered, he told customs officers that he had left both suitcases with a driver while he went shopping, and that they were subsequently dropped off at his hotel.

He maintained that he knew nothing about the packages or what they contained.

However after about three hours of deliberation, the jury found him guilty of importing the controlled drugs by a majority verdict of nine to three.

Defence lawyer Marc Daniels asked the court to extend Pearman’s bail until sentencing, but Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves refused the application and remanded him into custody.

Mr Justice Greaves also ordered that Pearman submit to a social inquiry report before sentencing.

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