admitted swallowing 80 pellets of cocaine valued at $115,000 and attempting to smuggle the drug into Bermuda.

Julia Mercado, 28 and Lorraine Negroni 23, admitted in Supreme Court that they imported the drug and possessed it with intent to supply.

They denied conspiring to import the drug when they were arraigned on June 1 this year.

Crown Counsel Ms Charlene Scott said that the two women arrived in Bermuda at 10.30 p.m. on Friday January 13, 1995.

Inside the Customs inspection area they presented their carry-on luggage and were detained.

Mercado and Negroni consented to an X-ray which showed that there were objects inside their stomachs.

They confessed that they had swallowed pellets and were arrested on suspicion that the pellets contained a controlled drug.

Subsequently, Mercado and Negroni were admitted to the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

Over the next four days Mercado excreted 57 pellets while Negroni excreted 23 pellets which all contained a white substance.

The white powder was analysed and found to be 75 per cent pure cocaine.

Mercado had swallowed enough of the drug to produce 664 half gram wraps each containing .32 grams of 75 per cent pure cocaine. If sold on the streets it would be worth some $83,000.

Meantime, the cocaine taken from inside Negroni's stomach would produce 256 half gram wraps of cocaine worth $32,000 on the street.

In a Police interview, both women said they had received the drugs in the United States from another person who gave them travel tickets and accommodation and a contact in Bermuda.

Ms Scott asked for an eight year prison sentence for the accused because she said "cocaine was a cancer that Bermuda has to deal with.'' She said both women had chosen an ingenious method to get the drugs into the Island and a sentence of at least eight years was an acceptable starting range.

But defence lawyer Ms Elizabeth Christopher rejected this argument. She said her clients were not aware of the serious way that Bermuda deals with drug offenders.

Moreover, she said their youth, the effect of the prison sentence on their families and Mercado's "slightly retarded'' mental state, should all be taken in mitigation.

Ms Harvey said the effect of a prison sentence would be especially hard on Mercado who has already attempted self-mutilation.

Furthermore Ms Christopher said both women had unwittingly placed themselves in a dangerous situation when they chose to swallow the cocaine pellets.

"There is also an element of duress present,'' she said. "They believed that there were people on the plane monitoring them and they had reason to believe there were others in Bermuda who would do them injury if they did not go through with it.'' Before sentence was passed, Mercado told Chief Justice the Hon. Mr. Justice Ward, that she was sorry while Negroni asked for a second chance and said she only did it for the money.

The Chief Justice said he took their guilty pleas, and cooperation with Police into consideration as well as Mercado's mental deficiencies.

"I realise that (Mercado) has serious deficiencies that make her an easy target for drug dealers to exploit but the evil often prey after the weak.'' Mr. Justice Ward said that their offence was more serious because they ingested the drugs which made them harder to intercept.

He then sentenced both women to seven years for importing the cocaine and seven years for possessing the drug with intent to supply. Both sentences will run concurrently.

The Crown chose not to pursue the conspiracy to import charges.