Bermuda’s new and stringent drug laws showed no mercy against an American drug addict who was sentenced to jail and received a $20,000 fine after admitting to one count of importing $9,150 worth of cocaine and another for possessing drug equipment.

Meryl M. Kaplan, 44, of Gordiva Way, New York City, drew the attention of a drug-sniffing dog at the L.F. Wade International Airport’s Customs arrival hall on July 4, Magistrates’ Court heard.

Kaplan elected for the charges to be heard in Magistrates’ Court rather than the Supreme Court after being told the offences were indictable.

Vacationing with her husband, she arrived just after 2 p.m. and was subsequently subjected to an Ion scan by Customs inspectors, which detected the presence of cocaine on her hands.

Then, her luggage, which consisted of five bags and a set of golf clubs, were searched and examined by suspicious Customs officials.

Shortly afterwards, Kaplan pointed towards a white, plastic, square case that was inside her Louis Vuitton purse. Traceable amounts of a white, rock-like substance was found on other items, including a metal pipe.

One chopstick, which she admitted using to push the cocaine around with, was also discovered along with two prescription bottles inside a black handbag that contained white, rock-like material.

Both bottles had her name on it and a closer look revealed a small, black, Gucci toiletry pouch containing a glass pipe and a white, rock-like substance inside a small Advil bottle, mixed with tablets. When asked what the substance was, she told officers, “It’s not crack, it’s cocaine cooked down with baking soda.”

And, a further rummage of Kaplan’s bag exposed another pipe containing burned residue, along with another chopstick covered with the same. Moving on to her black suitcase, a silver-coloured pipe and a silver-stemmed pipe with a wooden head, all with traces of similar burned deposits, were fished-out from her clothing.

Astonishingly, steel wool and a white sock containing a metal drill-bit with a white, rock-like matter on it were also recovered from another pouch belonging to her.

In total, four pipes were found, but only three of them tested positive, by a Government analyst, to having traces of the drug, which weighed a total of 29.41 grams. In court, duty counsel Leo Mills said Kaplan had a “fairly substance abuse problem that was only for her personal use and not to sell, distribute or affect the community.”

Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner called the offences “trafficable” and underscored its seriousness, especially following the passing of harsher amendments by Government, to the Misuse of Drugs Act.

Introduced under former Attorney General Larry Mussenden, in Magistrates’ Court, the new sentences are a maximum of ten years imprisonment and a fine of up to $500,000 or a maximum of three times the street value of the drug, or whichever is greater or both. Instead, Mr. Mills asked Mr. Warner to use his discretion and pass a suspended custodial sentence or a fine instead of imprisonment, saying Kaplan, who’s husband was present, will seek treatment upon her return to New York.

“It would not be a slap on the wrist and you would not find Mrs. Kaplan before our courts again,” Mr. Mills pleaded. “She realises that she has brought considerable embarrassment to herself and her family and I ask that the court not impose a custodial sentence.”

In his lengthy judgement, Mr. Warner stated: “This is a case of which a substantial amount of cocaine that is clearly a trafficable amount and on the face of it, attracts an immediate jail sentence of 12 months.”

He considered Kaplan’s “remorseful” demeanour and the fact she had no convictions within Bermuda’s jurisdiction and her “personal circumstances,” before sentencing her to three months imprisonment.

Additionally, following her prison sentence, Mr. Warner handed down a $20,000 fine, before Kaplan started crying hysterically, shouting: “I have children!” “I have children!”

She was immediately taken into custody by Prison and Police officers, before being transported to confinement.