A man who smuggled cocaine with a street value of more than $335,000 into Bermuda has been sentenced to eight years behind bars.

Jahkemo Virgil, 23, was caught with the drug by Customs officials at Bermuda International Airport on his return from a trip to Jamaica.

Crown Counsel Oonagh Vaucrosson said he told officials he travelled there in August for the purpose of ?ten weeks of women and vacation.? He explained that he had been visiting a girl who he got pregnant on his last trip.

However, Virgil was stopped in the airport on November 8 2004 on his way back into Bermuda. Officials searched a plastic bag he was carrying containing a doll as well as two suitcases. After x-rays of the suitcases aroused the suspicions of the officials, they drilled into them revealing eight bags of cocaine hydrochloride hidden inside the linings. Ms Vaucrosson said later analysis revealed there to be 1147 grams of the drug.

The court heard that Virgil was unemployed at the time of the offence and has previous convictions for stealing and using offensive words in public. He was convicted of possession with cocaine with intent to supply earlier this month - an offence committed after that of importation.

?Being investigated clearly didn?t deter him from dealing with drugs,? said Ms Vaucrosson.

She added that although Virgil was ?not fully responsible? for the offence, he was the only person bringing the drug into Bermuda by these means.

She explained that cocaine hydrochloride can be mixed with various other substances to make crack cocaine.

Charles Richardson, defending, said his client knew he could not avoid prison. He said the recent drug conviction was related to Virgil using, not selling drugs.

He told Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves: ?He?s not had the easiest time during the formative years of his young adult life. He has, according to more than one source, been living pillar to post and has been in foster care.?

Mr. Richardson said this lack of a stable environment may have contributed to Virgil?s poor judgement in committing the offence.

He added that his client is an intelligent young man. He told the judge: ?It?s my hope, indeed my expectation, that he will take the opportunity of all the educational resources (in prison.) It brought me to great sadness that I had to tell this young defendant that he could not avoid custody. He has great potential,? he said. And he added: ?He has his sights set on some rather lofty and ambitious goals. He?s determined to return to society as an individual who makes a contribution.?

Speaking in his own defence, Virgil said he had displayed naivety and a lack of moral judgement. ?I would like to apologise to my country as well as the court. I want to return a more responsible and civilised citizen to society,? he added.

Sentencing him to the jail term, Mr. Justice Greaves referred to the crime committed by Virgil while he was on bail for the importation offence. He said that the likelihood of him offending again was an aggravating factor in the case.