A former policeman has been jailed for four years after he was caught trying to smuggle more than $200,000 worth of cannabis into Bermuda.

Owen Simons hid the drugs inside 35 small black packages that were folded into two new air beds before boarding a flight from Toronto to Bermuda last year

The 43-year-old Bermudian, who was living in Canada at the time, was stopped at LF Wade International Airport as he picked up his luggage at 12.10pm on July 2, 2014.

As customs officers searched his bags and found the packages wrapped in carbon paper they ask Simons what they contained, to which he replied: “Weed.”

He was detained and later pleaded guilty to importing a controlled drug into Bermuda.

The drugs were examined and found to weigh 4,132g and have an estimated street value of $206,000.

At Supreme Court yesterday Simons described his actions as “the most detrimental thing I could have possibly done to my life, my family and my own standing in the community”.

He apologised, saying that financial and family pressures made him feel like he was “backed into a corner”.

Simons added: “Dealing with my situation and my wife’s children’s autism and the mental stress alone to make sure they had everything they need caused me not to think.

“I was just trying to keep everyone afloat. If I am incarcerated I don’t know how everyone else is going to make it. I live to work and take care of my children.”

The court heard that Simons had been married three times and had to support a number of children, including three stepchildren with autism.

He had previously worked as officer in the Bermuda Police Service and at the time of his arrest had been working in two different jobs.

His lawyer Rick Woolridge said: “He found himself extremely desperate to keep a roof over his family’s head and care for his children.”

Sentencing Simons to four years behind bars Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves said: “The importation of drugs is a serious offence and tends to attract an immediate custodial sentence particularly when it involves the quantity and value it does in this case.

“I consider the starting point is eight years in prison.

“I take into consideration his guilty plea and give full discount, and I also take into account his previous good character, his sincere remorse and the low risk that he will reoffend.”

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