A cruise ship worker has lost his appeal against a 15-year conviction for plotting to smuggle cocaine into Bermuda.

Ricardo Stewart, 33, a Jamaican national, was found guilty last year of organising the importation of nearly four kg of the drug aboard the

Explorer of the Seas.Stewart and co-conspirator Adrian Morris were both jailed after the ship’s CCTV spotted Morris stashing a bag under the seat of an on-board pub. The cocaine’s street value was estimated at between $424,500 and $735,000.

After pleading guilty and giving evidence against Stewart, Morris was jailed for six years. Stewart’s lawyer argued before the Court of Appeal that Morris had acted out of self-interest, and that his evidence should have been disregarded.

That appeal has been dismissed, however, as was an application by the Crown for leave to appeal on the basis that Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons had given Stewart too lenient a sentence.