A drugs mule who ran away from officials at Bermuda International Airport after being caught importing more than $84,000 worth of cocaine has been jailed for four years.

Jazane Smith, a father of three from Somerset, was said by a judge to have been lured into drug-running out of jealousy that other people could afford houses in Bermuda.

Crown counsel Oonagh Vaucrosson told Supreme Court on Wednesday how Smith was stopped at the airport on August 31 after arriving on an evening flight from New York's John F. Kennedy Airport.

She said that after entering the customs area, a Police sniffer dog indicated to its handler that Smith, 29, was carrying drugs. An ion scan subsequently gave a further indication that drugs were present.

When Customs officers and Police officers told Smith he would have to have a personal body search, he told them they were not allowed to go through his bags without him being present .

"The defendant attempted to go through his bag and then without warning ran through the doors of the secondary search area. The officers pursued him on foot and apprehended him at the taxi area of the long term car park," said Ms Vaucrosson.

The officials then discovered that Smith had one package containing white powder strapped to each of his legs, which he admitted at the scene was cocaine.

In a Police interview, the defendant said that only half of the drugs belonged to him and the rest belonged to a friend named Ron Warner who had given him a plane ticket to collect the cocaine in America and bring it back to Bermuda. He was, he said, to receive "at least ten grand" payment for working as a drugs courier.

Analysis showed that Smith, a self-employed mason and former Warwick Academy student, had been carrying just over 276 grams of the drug, with a street value of $84,125.

At an earlier Supreme Court appearance in December, he pleaded guilty to importing cocaine, and possessing it with intent to supply.

Ms Vaucrosson told Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons that Smith has no previous criminal record, and recommended a prison sentence of four to five years.

Larry Scott, defending, said his client's act was "the dumbest thing he's ever done," but that he came from "good stock" with a hard-working father and supportive fianc?e.

Mr. Scott added that his client coaches a "very successful junior football team" and has taken responsibility for his actions.

Mrs. Justice Simmons noted from reports on the defendant: "He said he saw other people buying houses for themselves and he just wanted a piece of The Rock (Bermuda) for himself."

But she questioned: "How many runs would he have had to make? How many lives would he have destroyed?"

Jazane Smith, speaking in his own defence, told her: "I want to apologise to everyone ? my family, the courts and everyone in Bermuda. It was a stupid mistake. I have pretty much worked all my life and you will not be seeing my face before the court again."

Sentencing him to the four-year stretch behind bars, Mrs. Justice Simmons said: "You have just destroyed what was a remarkable record for a young man in Bermuda today.

"You had a skill, you were earning, you were a coach of a football team and had young people look up to you and now you stand before us as a drug trafficker. Who would have thought it?"