A Jamaican man was sentenced to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to importing almost $2 million worth of heroin into Bermuda.

Barris Dawkins, who also has two aliases - Rudolph Pusey and Danny Morgan - admitted to flying in to Bermuda on March 24, 2001, along with a woman who was carrying the $1.8 million worth of diamorphine inside her underpants. Dawkins and another unidentified third individual had offered to pay the woman $7,000 to carry the drugs to Bermuda from the United States.

However, they were caught by officials at the Bermuda International Airport with the 339.6 grams of diamorphine. Dawkins was charged with importation and conspiring to import drugs into the country. In May of 2003 he pleaded guilty to the charge of importation, however maintained his innocence on the charge of conspiracy.

As "the mind of the operation", Crown counsel Juan Wolffe said the 54-year-old taxi tour operator should be "more severely punished" than as though he had just been a drug mule, and recommended a sentence of 18-21 years.

Defence lawyer Ed Bailey told Acting Justice Archie Warner that as Dawkins had pleaded guilty to importation and not conspiracy, he ought to be treated as a mule.

However, Mr. Warner noted that "importation" legally meant either to bring in or to cause to bring in. "Importation is more than just physically bringing it in," he said, adding he had already accepted that Dawkins was "the mind of the operation", and had as such planned the importation.

Mr. Bailey hit back saying that Dawkins was the "lesser" mind of the operation, with the as yet unidentified third party being the main conspirator.

Mr. Warner said he was willing to accept that. "No doubt Dawkins was a middle man who not only planned the operation but accompanied the mule," he said.

Dawkins, a father of five, suffered from diabetes, said Mr. Bailey. In an attempt to mitigate the length of sentence imposed, he added that the defendant had also offered to assist the Crown in an investigation into the third party and had pleaded guilty to the charges.

However, Mr. Warner noted there would only be "a limited discount" for the guilty plea as it had come more than a year after the incident. He also observed there was no evidence yet of any cooperation with the Crown in an investigation into the third party, and rejected Mr. Bailey's submission that Dawkins was merely another mule.

"I made a mistake coming to Bermuda knowing something illegal was happening and for this I apologise to the court," Dawkins said at the sentencing.