An American drug mule caught with more than ten kilograms of cannabis with an estimated top value of nearly $1 million has been sentenced to six years behind bars.

Ricardo Barnett, 31, earlier pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring with others to import cannabis into Bermuda and possessing cannabis with intent to supply.

Puisne Judge Alan Richards said yesterday that while Barnett admitted being involved in a conspiracy, the evidence suggested that the Texas native was acting on the direction of others who were unwilling to take the risk of bringing the drugs themselves.

He added: “It is not unusual for persons who the court sees as couriers or mules to be financially disadvantaged persons, a person of previously good character or a person with vulnerabilities in other ways.

“Sadly, organisers in the drug trade tend to select such persons to carry drugs for them because they can be more easily persuaded to participate in return for modest financial reward and they are less likely to arouse the suspicion of customs authorities.”

However, Mr Justice Richards said it was because of those factors that it was important to deliver sentences that would deter individuals from being persuaded to bring drugs into the country.

He sentenced Barnett to six years behind bars for both offences, ordering the sentences to run concurrently and for the time he had already spent in custody to be taken into consideration.

Adley Duncan, for the Crown, told the court that Barnett arrived on the island on the evening of July 30, 2025, on a flight from Miami.

Barnett passed through immigration and collected a grey suitcase from the baggage claim area but then repeatedly refused requests from officials to fill out a customs declaration form.

After he did complete the form, he was directed for a secondary inspection but insisted there was no reason for one and he had nothing to declare.

Barnett was taken to the secondary inspection area but then refused an instruction to place the suitcase on a desk, stating that the piece of luggage was not his.

However, he conceded that the suitcase was his after the officers pointed him to luggage tags that bore his name.

Throughout the interaction, the officers reported that Barnett avoided eye contact and appeared to be tense and nervous.

Mr Duncan said that when the suitcase was opened, the officers discovered a series of heat-sealed packages wrapped in towels, which appeared to be soaked in something like bleach.

Barnett again claimed the suitcase was not his and was seen to repeatedly pull his phone from his pocket and send messages.

He later told officers at the airport: “I was rushing out the house because I was late and I grabbed the wrong suitcase. I was staying with one of my friend’s people but I don’t know him.”

Mr Duncan said that a total of 10.6 kilograms of cannabis was recovered during the search of Barnett’s bags with a maximum value “approaching $1 million”.

Investigators also seized and analysed his phone, recovering a deleted conversation between Barnett and another individual dated after his arrival on the island.

In the messages, the other person asked Barnett if he could “run with the bag” and said he would try to get him off the island before advising him to delete the chat.

Mr Duncan suggested a sentence of between five and six years for the offence but Susan Mulligan, counsel for Barnett, urged the court to land on the lower end of that range.

Ms Mulligan said that papers before the court suggested that Barnett was a young man with a clean record who had made a bad decision because of financial hardship.

She also noted that he would have a harder time in prison as a foreign national because he had no local ties and would be ineligible for release on parole.

Ms Mulligan added: “It appears very much to be a one-off thing and I doubt that Barnett will ever be in trouble again.”

Barnett apologised for his actions. He said: “I should have respected myself more.”

Mr Justice Richards noted Barnett’s lack of previous convictions as well as references speaking to his good character, stating: “This may be one of the worst things you have done but it’s not all that you have done or can do.”

He said that had the matter gone to trial, the appropriate sentence would have been one of nine years behind bars but found that Barnett was entitled to a discount for his early guilty plea.

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