Cruise ship cook Cordell Gerald Galbirth was locked up for 12 months this week after he admitted importing 337.7 grams of cannabis.

Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner appeared perplexed at the Jamaican's request for a "pardon" as the 39-year-old husband and father of two begged for mercy.

Galbirth said: "I deeply regret bringing in those packages off of the ship, I'm very sorry to do it and hope that I may get a pardon."

"You hope that... what?" questioned Mr. Warner.

"My family feel really bad about it and I regret doing it, it's my first time ever," Galbirth repeated.

Crown counsel Maria Sofianos had told the court a drug-sniffing dog alerted officers to Galbirth's cabin aboard the Norwegian Crown in St. George's on Tuesday.

During a search, Police found two packages of the cannabis wrapped in brown tape underneath one of the bunk-beds.

When confronted by ship security, Galbirth said: "They belong to me, it's ganja."

He then explained how he was handed the packages by a man in New York with the instructions of smuggling it into Bermuda, where he was to contact another person for its transfer — and a $2,000 reward.

The drugs were analysed and said to be worth $16,850 if sold on Bermuda's streets in half-gram wraps, bags or twists and $6,000 if sold on the streets in 12-once wraps.

Lawyer Rick Woolridge told Mr. Warner that Galbirth "was preyed upon by someone because of his financial standing" and that he only wanted to support his family.

In sentencing, Mr. Warner said that although the drug was "trafficable" and that he took into the guilty plea and appearance of remorse, he cited the "deterrent effect" of the sentence and guidelines in the Criminal Code.