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Canadian cocaine importer to be sentenced Tuesday

Photo by Glenn TuckerKayla Nicol, 22, is led away from court after admitting conspiring to import cocaine, which she hid internally.

A Canadian woman smuggled $48,750 worth of cocaine into Bermuda by concealing it in condoms inside her body.Kayla Nicol, 22, admitted to officials that she had narcotics on her when she arrived at LF Wade International Airport on Sunday, January 16.She pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiring with others not before the courts to import the drugs.Addressing Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner, prosecutor Cindy Clarke said Nicol arrived on a commercial flight at 12.03pm.She was directed to a Customs inspection area where she told officers: “I brought something into the Island. I have drugs on me.”She then told them where in her body she had concealed the narcotics, and retrieved them for the officers during a strip search.The cocaine weighed 202.8 grams and was stashed inside two condoms.According to Ms Clarke, she explained when questioned: “Somebody gave it to me to bring down here.”Nicol, of Scarborough, Ontario, was taken to hospital, where she remained until yesterday’s court appearance.She denied a second charge of possession of cocaine with intent to supply, which will lie on file.The case comes in the wake of a series of incidents in Bermuda, including the death last month of a Jamaican man who was discovered with several pellets of controlled drugs in his system.Police said the pellets contributed to 35-year-old Hugh Melwood’s demise and warned that smugglers who conceal narcotics internally are risking their lives, as the packets can rupture.Mr Warner remanded Nicol into custody until a sentencing hearing next Tuesday.