A mother of two young children has been jailed for eight years for plotting to import $1.1 million worth of cannabis.Michelle Gibbons, 28, was said by her lawyer to have committed the crime because she was suffering financial woes.She was caught during a joint operation between Bermuda Police and the Drug Enforcement Administration, according to prosecutor Cindy Clarke.DEA officials discovered the drugs concealed in her three suitcases at Newark airport, New Jersey, on October 21 2010.Gibbons was arrested after boarding her flight from Newark and landing at LF Wade International airport in Bermuda. She was then charged with conspiring to import the drugs into Bermuda; later pleading guilty.Defence lawyer Ken Savoury told Supreme Court on Thursday that Gibbons, of King Street, Pembroke, is the sole carer for her children aged six and ten.“In 2010 she was struggling financially to support her young family,” he said. He explained she was earning $525 per week and under “extreme financial and emotional stress” when she was approached by individuals in the “drug underworld”.When they invited her to participate in the plot, “she succumbed to the allure of quick cash”.He added: “Incarceration is bound to have a detrimental effect on her two children. She’s their main support on a daily basis and there’s also a risk that the children will be taken into care by the authorities.”He stated that Gibbons experienced a “difficult upbringing” and has suffered bouts of depression that could be triggered again by incarceration.The court heard she was working for Government’s hustle truck job scheme at the time of her arrest, and has previous convictions for dishonesty relating to money transfers.Another woman involved in the same plot, 53-year-old Mary Johnson, was caught with $2.4 million worth of cannabis in her bags at the same airport on the same date. Johnson, of Edgeway Lane, Pembroke, was convicted after a Supreme Court trial earlier this year and jailed for ten years.She got what was described by Ms Clarke as a discounted sentence for helping the authorities with evidence against the alleged ringleader of the plot.A Pembroke man has been charged and is awaiting trial at Supreme Court.Mr Savoury argued that Gibbons should get a discount too, as she also helped the investigation.“She cooperated from the outset and she provided valuable evidence,” he said.He described Gibbons as “on the periphery of the conspiracy; a mere mule”. He also pointed out that the drugs in her bags weighed 51lbs compared to the 108lbs brought in by Johnson.Ms Clarke agreed with Mr Savoury that Gibbons should get some discount for assisting the authorities, although they disagreed over how much.Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves explained he meted out eight years, which was down from a starting point of 12 years, because Gibbons pleaded guilty and helped the authorities.“The drug kingpins are likely to be unsuccessful when persons like this defendant have the fortitude, despite their hardships, to be strong enough not to fall to the enterprises of these persons,” he noted.Gibbons, who apologised to the court, tearfully hugged her family and friends as she was escorted away in handcuffs. Her supporters burst into a loud and lengthy cacophony of screaming and wailing after she was taken into prison custody.