A jury has found drug smuggler Mary Johnson guilty of conspiring to import millions worth of cannabis to Bermuda.Johnson, 53, of Edgeway Lane, Pembroke, was apprehended by US drug enforcement agents at Newark’s Liberty International Airport on October 21 of last year directly after she boarded her return flight to the Island.The 49kg of wrapped cannabis bricks concealed in her luggage could have sold for $2.4 million on Bermuda’s streets.The drugs were inside the false bottoms of four pieces of luggage delivered to her Newark hotel room the night before her trip home.Johnson insisted throughout her trial that she never knew what the bags contained.When she took the stand in her own defence last week, she told the jury she feared being targeted by gangsters if she didn’t bring the “illegal” luggage back from the US.She also admitted being asked to bring back a bag before she left for Newark. She said she accepted $2,570 in cash from a Bermudian drug dealer named “KJ”, whom she said resided in the Deepdale area of Pembroke.She said the bags were delivered to her hotel by two Bermudians a male and a female. Johnson said the man was an associate of KJ, and was referred to as a “Deepdale man”.Johnson maintained she felt threatened when KJ’s associate took pictures of her with the bags. She told the jury she had not agreed to bring them to Bermuda.She claimed that her five-day trip to the US had been to visit a terminally-ill relative and said she had been swayed by KJ’s cash because she had spent her travel money on car repairs.Prosecutor Larissa Burgess poured cold water on Johnson’s allegations of fear and ignorance when she delivered her closing speech to the jury yesterday morning.Ms Burgess urged the men and women of the panel not to be swayed by any sympathy for the defendant, who was tearful when she gave evidence.Ms Burgess pointed out the first question Johnson asked the US Special Agent who detained her at Newark was whether she would be arrested before the bags were even searched.She pointed out that the accused woman admitted knowing KJ was a drug dealer, letting him book her trip and accepting money from him for her air ticket. For this reason, Ms Burgess said, the jury should consider whether Ms Johnson was telling the truth when she denied knowing drugs were in the bags.“Did this all just happen without Ms Johnson knowing? Did KJ just happen to ask Mary Johnson to go to Newark, pay her plane ticket, tell her what hotel to stay in, give her $2,000 spending money? Did that just happen? We say Mary Johnson knew about everything,” said the prosecutor.“This something illegal was something that she knew she was bringing back for a drug dealer. What would you assume you were bringing back, that was illegal, for a drug dealer?”Defence lawyer Larry Mussenden pointed out Johnson was innocent until the prosecution proved her guilty, and she did not have to prove a thing. He added that the Crown must prove the case beyond reasonable doubt and should not make assumptions. He suggested it had not successfully proved Ms Johnson to have been involved in a conspiracy.Mr Mussenden said of KJ: “He is a person he exists.” But, he said, the jurors should not speculate as to why he is not on trial too.He added that there is a defence in law for those who can prove they acted under duress, such as when there are threats or talk of serious harm. He invited the jury to find that Johnson did indeed feel threatened by the “Deepdale man” who took pictures of her with the bags.“If you find that Mary Johnson was acting under duress, then you have to acquit her,” he said.The jury yesterday deliberated less than an hour before delivering the verdict.Often emotional through her trial, Johnson said nothing as she stood before Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves, but whispered: “I told you, they’ll kill me” before being led from the dock.She was remanded into custody until her sentencing in November.