A Bermudian who smuggled 1.3 kg of cocaine into Britain hidden in bottles of syrup after becoming ensnared by a drug gang when he got into debt was jailed for eight years yesterday.

Malachi Eversley was caught red-handed by customs officers at Gatwick Airport with the Class A drugs of 100 percent purity worth more than ?154,000 (about $270,000).

A court in England heard that the 24-year-old agreed to carry the drugs to pay off a debt to a loan shark in Bermuda who had threatened to mash him up and his mother?s car.

Eversley?s defence lawyer said he didn?t want his mother to become anxious as she had suffered panic attacks after his father was murdered three years earlier.

Eversley claimed he initially borrowed $3,000 from the loan shark to buy a new car. But it led to him appearing before Croydon Crown Court, Surrey, England, where he admitted knowingly being concerned in the fraudulent evasion of prohibition of importation of goods.

Graeme Ford, prosecuting, said Eversley, whose address was given in court as Flat 4, 11 Pembroke, Bermuda, was travelling alone on a Bermudian passport and had arrived at the airport on a flight from St. Lucia on January 25.

Mr. Ford said customs officers saw him with two wheelie bags and Eversley denied he had drugs on him, claiming they were just duty free items he had picked up. Mr. Ford added: ?In fact there were three bottles of syrup and one gave a positive reaction for cocaine after a field test and he was cautioned.

?The gross weight of the liquid was 3.15 kg but the weight of 1.32 kg at 100 percent purity is the cocaine and it has a street value of ?154,350.?

Ian McLoughlin, defending, said: ?The value ascribed to the drugs is only an estimate, it can?t be a precise value.

?Your Honour will hear of a young man who came into contact with sophisticated criminals who have organised everything and he has gone along with it. He wanted to buy a car and he was owed money by a friend but the car was only available on a ?first come first serve basis?.

?This is where perhaps he made a crucial mistake. He borrowed it from a money lender and went back to buy the car. He had borrowed $3,000 plus $1,000 on top. It was to be paid within a week but the car was worth considerably more. If he couldn?t recoup his debt he could still sell the car.

?Unfortunately life didn?t turn out this way. The car had gone when he got back and his friend was having a cash flow crisis of his own and couldn?t pay back the $3,500 due to the defendant.?

Mr. McLoughlin said the long and short of it was that the defendant tried to win back his loss by gambling and after this failed sought an extension from the loan shark which initially worked but meant adding another $2,000 to the debt, taking it up to $6,000.

But he said when he failed to find the money he was threatened that he would be mashed up along with his mother?s car. He then agreed to ?do a move? to prevent any anxiety for his mother.

The court heard how after Eversley was flown out of Bermuda to St. Lucia and spent some time in hotels he was met by men and given a ticket to the UK and ?stuff? to carry.

Judge Stephen Waller, sentencing, said: ?As an intelligent man you must have known the dreadful harm you would do in bringing this quantity of cocaine into the country.

?Drugs like cocaine bring total misery both to the individual, who usually becomes addicted to it, then to the general public who become victims.

?The vast majority of people who come before the courts in London claim they are acting because of an addiction to drugs. This is why it must be spelt out every time the courts around the world have to pass deterrent sentences, in some jurisdictions they are stiffer than they are in this country. The sentence will be eight years imprisonment.?

No order for deportation was made as Eversley has a Bermudian passport and is free to enter the UK.

In a separate case earlier, another Bermudian, Ghengis Thorpe, also from Pembroke, was jailed at the same court for six years on a similar charge.

He had pleaded guilty at Haywards Heath Magistrates Court to smuggling drugs. He was challenged by customs officers after arriving at Gatwick on a Virgin Flight from St. Lucia and been remanded in custody to Croydon for sentence.