A man jailed for a plot to import $6 million of cannabis to Bermuda has lost an appeal against his conviction.

George Virgil was found guilty last year of conspiring to import 263lbs of the controlled drug, and was subsequently sentenced to ten years in prison.

The cannabis had been concealed in a shipment of iron plates, pipes and “I-beams”, sent to the island from Canada in 2012. While Swandell Welding & Steel Erection — a former employer of Virgil — was listed as the importer, the company had not been active for nine months prior to the shipment.

During the trial, the court heard that Virgil had provided the money to clear the shipment through customs. Police later watched as the shipment was delivered, noting that the defendant helped unload the container, contacted a trucking company to move the material to another destination and paid the trucker.

Virgil told police that he had agreed to import the steel sheets and supply them to a customer, but denied knowing that they contained illegal drugs.

During his appeal hearing, defence lawyer Larry Mussenden argued that Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves had not fairly summed up the facts of the case for the jury and his handling of a co-defendant who gave incriminating evidence against Virgil. The judge had ruled the co-defendant had a case to answer, but revisited the issue after she gave her evidence, finding she had no case to answer.

In a written reasons for decision, dated March 18, the Appeal Panel found that the decisions of how to handle the co-defendant were made in exercise of the court’s discretion. Further, the panel found that the jury was entitled to find that Virgil directed the importation of the steel plates, knowing that they contained a controlled drug, and that he was acting pursuant to an agreement made with persons not before the court.

As a result, the panel found the conviction was safe and dismissed the appeal.