An American man was jailed for seven years yesterday for smuggling a quarter of a million dollars worth of marijuana to Bermuda on-board a cruise ship.

Norwegian Dawn passenger Anthony Issac brought the drugs to the Island in a black suitcase but was caught out before they reached the street.

He was sentenced at Supreme Court yesterday after earlier admitting his guilt in conspiracy to import cannabis and possession of cannabis with intent to supply.

Prosecutor Takiyah Burgess said Issac was seen by CSET (Combined Seaport Enforcement Team) officers disembarking the cruise liner at Dockyard at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, June 17.

"His demeanour did not actually fit the profile of a tourist and officers saw he was agitated," said Ms Burgess.

"He appeared to be someone who was troubled, his demeanour was uneasy.

"Officers became suspicious of Issac and continued to monitor his activity."

On returning to the ship, officers made inquiries as to the whereabouts of his cabin and proceeded to make a search.

Ms Burgess said they opened a black suitcase on the bed to find 30 brown paper packages containing "a plant material".

"Issac stated the contents were the controlled drug cannabis and a friend of his named 'Mike' in New York, had handed him the suitcase to go on vacation and to drop it off in Bermuda," she said.

Two more packages were also found under the bed.

On interview at Somerset Police Station, Issac told officers he was to be paid $10,000 in cash for delivering the drugs to a man in Bermuda.

"He said he didn't know what the contents were but that it was something illegal," said Ms Burgess.

On analysis, the packages were found to contain 5,048 grams of marijuana, with a street value of $252,000.

Defence lawyer Llewellyn Peniston said: "He is sorry for this offence but it was driven by personal hardship."

Issac, a 34-year-old truck driver from the Bronx, New York, told the court: "I would like to apologise to Bermuda and the courts for taking the suitcase, which was pretty stupid.

"It caught me at a time when I was experiencing financial problems and I thought the money would help."

Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves said: "In all the circumstances, with the large quantity of drugs, mitigated by the early guilty plea and the cooperation with the Police, it is the view of this court that a sentence of seven years on both counts would be reasonable at this stage."

Issac was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment on both counts to run concurrently.