shoes was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Friday.

Crown Counsel Ms Charlene Scott told Supreme Court Llewellyn Anthony Nesbitt, 24, of Kitchener Close, was searched at the airport on November 26, 1993.

"Customs officers inspected a bag Scott was carrying which contained a pair of boots and some clothes,'' Ms Scott said.

She added: "The soles of the shoes seemed to be particularly thick, the customs officer drilled a small hole into the side of the sole and white powder poured out of the incision.

"The accused was then taken into the search room where the sole of the left shoe was pried open, this revealed a package wrapped in tape. When asked if he knew what was in the package, the accused shrugged his shoulders.

"The Police were called and Nesbitt was arrested on suspicion of importing a controlled substance. A brown pair of shoes, similar in appearance to the black ones, were searched and revealed four packages of a white powdered substance.'' Ms Scott also said that the packages were analysed by Senior Government analyst Dr. Alan Young and three of the packages were found to contain 112, 113, and 111 grams of cocaine with a 42 percent, 41 percent and 44 percent purity respectively. This would have produced approximately 445 half gram wraps each containing 0.32 grams of cocaine.

The fourth package contained 82.4 grams of powder containing heroin with a 56 percent purity. This would produce 4,180 doses each containing 11 milligrams of heroin.

When interviewed by Police, Nesbitt admitted the drugs were his.

He said: "I bought it in New York for $5,500 and I bought it back to Bermuda in the shoes. I was going to frame someone with the drugs. I knew the packages were containing drugs but I didn't know what kind.'' The court also heard that Nesbitt had previous convictions for possessing cannabis and stealing bikes.

Ms Scott told the court that the quantity of drugs was great and detrimental to society.

Nesbitt's lawyer Mr. Archie Warner said: "This is an unfortunate situation.

Nesbitt said he did not want to bring the drugs in but he was threatened and forced to do it by some people in New York.''