drug into Bermuda was yesterday sentenced to four years in prison.

Edwin Santiago, 20, of New York City, pleaded guilty in Supreme Court to importing 58.34 grams of the drug last year.

Santiago, who is unemployed, was stopped and searched by Customs officers at the Civil Air Terminal when he arrived in Bermuda shortly after noon on August 15.

During the search, Crown counsel Mr. Stephen Harrison said, Santiago admitted ingesting cocaine.

He said he felt the "balloons'' of cocaine he had swallowed were about to rupture, Mr. Harrison said.

Santiago was rushed to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital where he was treated and excreted 61 packages of cocaine.

Mr. Harrison said the amount had a street value of $13,750.

Det. Con. Robin Sherwood said Santiago fully cooperated with Police and supplied names and details about other drug matters.

He said Santiago had previous convictions in the US, but not in Bermuda.

Santiago's lawyer Mr. Tim Marshall asked Puisne Judge the Hon. Mr. Justice Ward to take into account his client's cooperation with Police.

"He has done everything that he could possibly do to right the wrong,'' Mr.

Marshall said. "He could have merely acknowledged his guilt for importation and say nothing further.'' He said although Santiago was young, he had a "very difficult life''.

He said Santiago, who had a one-year-old daughter and a pregnant fiance, unsuccessfully tried to find employment in New York before giving into temptation.

"But he has learned that sort of conduct is destructive,'' Mr. Marshall said.

"And he has already paid a terrible price in that he has shamed his family.

He has jeopardised a very important relationship that was scheduled to culminate in marriage in September, 1992 and he knows and anguishes over the fact that he has jeopardised the relationship with his young daughter.

"He will not get to know his unborn child for sometime. That hurts him deeply.'' Mr. Marshall said Santiago, who was a high school drop-out, was enrolled in Monroe College and planned to complete his high school education with emphasis on mathematics before he was arrested.

He now planned to take up his studies at Casemates Prison.

"It is his plan to come back into society, get a good job, and make his family proud of him.

Speaking with tears trickling down his face, Santiago told Mr. Ward: "I just want to say I'm sorry to the people of Bermuda, my family, and my daughter for all the pain and suffering I've caused her.

"And I would like for Jesus Christ to forgive me for my sins.'' "Well, he always does that. No problem there,'' Mr. Ward said.

Before sentencing Santiago, he cited a case in which a man received five years in prison for importing 53 grams of cocaine.

But citing Santiago's mitigation, Mr. Ward imposed a sentence of four years -- with time spent in custody to be taken into consideration.