An American man has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail for plotting to distribute $15 million worth of marijuana destined for Bermuda.Dennis Pamplin, former husband of United Bermuda Party politician Patricia Gordon-Pamplin, has been in custody since his arrest in New Jersey in July 2008.He was detained along with another American, Brian Henry, when undercover police and special agents swooped on a warehouse after a months-long investigation conducted in collaboration with the Bermuda Police Service.According to a 2008 statement from New Jersey’s Drug Enforcement Agency [DEA], the arrests came after a police dog sniffed out a large amount of marijuana hidden inside concrete pillars at the warehouse.Following the arrests, Pamplin was charged with conspiring with others to distribute more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana with an estimated street value in Bermuda of $15 million.Court papers say the plot spanned the period 2006 to July 2008.He pleaded guilty to the charge last December and was sentenced in Manhattan’s Southern District Court on Friday.Pamplin also faced a second charge, that on or about July 15 2008 he and co-conspirators possessed approximately 318 kilograms of marijuana with intent to distribute it. Pamplin maintained his not guilty plea in respect of that charge, which prosecutors accepted.The time he’s already spent in custody will be knocked off his sentence, meaning he has less than a year left to serve.Pamplin must spend three years under ‘supervised release’ once he finishes his sentence.He and his wife were married in 1993 and she once credited him with kick-starting her political career. He had previously been married to another Bermudian woman.The pair were living in separate countries by the time of his arrest, which Ms Gordon-Pamplin said she learned of through the news media.She expressed her shock when the news first broke, but has repeatedly declined requests to comment on the case since, including a request made yesterday.Pamplin was previously charged with money laundering in 2007, along with three other men, after they were arrested in Chatham, New Jersey. That episode prompted Ms Gordon-Pamplin to describe her husband as “worthless” in comments to the media.The charges were later dismissed, but the trio agreed to forfeit $110,745 seized from them at the time they were arrested.Pamplin’s co-accused in the drugs case, Brian Henry, pleaded guilty in December 2008 to his role in the conspiracy and also to being a gun runner. He admitted to four counts of conspiring to distribute cocaine and marijuana and the illegal importation of firearms.The offences took place between 2001 and 2008. His sentence date has been fixed for next month.According to court documents, Henry told investigators he oversaw the packing of approximately five shipments, which contained marijuana weighing a total of approximately 2,100 lbs, or approximately 955 kilograms, which were destined for Bermuda.According to a statement made by Stephen Casey, a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration, in 2008: “Henry stated that after the marijuana was packaged, Pamplin arranged for each shipment to be transported overseas to Bermuda, via the Port of Newark, New Jersey.”Court documents do not specify the circumstances of the gun running and no further information about the drugs case was available yesterday either. Special Agent Douglas Collier, of the Drugs Enforcement (DEA) Administration in Newark, said he could not speak about it until after Henry has been sentenced and a decision made on whether either man intends to appeal.Pamplin’s lawyer Louis Freeman could not be reached for comment.Superintendent Andrew Boyce of the Bermuda Police Service said yesterday: “H.M. Customs and the Bermuda Police Service worked very closely with the DEA in a lengthy investigation leading up to the arrest of Mr Pamplin.“We continued to provide support to and share intelligence with the DEA after the arrests, but it would not be appropriate to discuss specifics of our involvement. We are very happy to have been instrumental in preventing such a significant quantity of illegal drugs from being imported and distributed on the streets of Bermuda. The Bermuda Police Service, together with our partner agencies, will continue our efforts to eradicate drugs and apprehend those responsible, in order to make Bermuda safer.”Supt Boyce has previously told this newspaper he has no knowledge of the firearms allegations relating to Henry.