three-and-a-half years in prison after she pleaded guilty to smuggling in more than 4,300 grams of cannabis.

Keitha Steede, a 30-year-old hairstylist, had been charged with importation after Airport Customs officers discovered a false bottom in a suitcase she had brought with her on a January 24 flight from the United States.

When the Customs officers punctured the bottom, court heard, they found 4,358.4 grams of cannabis that was later determined to have a street value of nearly $218,000.

According to Steede, who was represented by lawyer Mr. Archie Warner, she had been recruited by her ex-husband and a third party to go to New York, pick up the drugs and bring them back to Bermuda.

Steede said she agreed to do so because she was in dire financial straits and needed the money she would have been paid to support her six-year-old daughter.

However, Puisne Judge the Hon. Mr. Justice Meerabux rejected Steede's defence of poverty and pleas by Mr. Warner that she be spared a custodial sentence, saying that drugs were a scourge on the Island and had to be dealt with aggressively.

"This court cannot take a lenient view of your conduct,'' he told the defendant. "I think an immediate custodial sentence is necessary in this case.'' Before being sentenced, Steede gave an emotional address to the court. "I apologise for my actions,'' she said tearfully. "I apologise to the community, to my family and to my daughter.''