A Canadian drug mule was jailed for ten years for importing nearly $600,000 of illegal drugs to the Island.

In October, Ian James Mullen, 35, of Wincott Drive, Ontario, pleaded guilty to three counts of importing $571,590 worth of cocaine, heroin and cannabis resin to Bermuda on July 9.

However, he pleaded not guilty to possessing the drug with intent to supply and these charges were dropped.

In Supreme Court yesterday, Crown counsel Cindy Clarke said Mullen told Bermuda Police Narcotics Officers he was recruited in Canada to swallow drugs and bring them to Bermuda.

?On his return he was due to transport $40,000 in US currency back to Canada,? Ms Clarke said. ?He was to be given $10,000 for bringing the drugs here.?

Defence lawyer Charles Richardson said Mullen had a nine-year-old son but brought the drugs here because he owed a drug dealer in Canada a lot of money.

However, Mullen was now assisting the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in its investigation to catch the drug-supplier.

?Had he known he was carrying heroin he would not have agreed to do it,? Mr. Richardson said. ?For that reason he was dead set to help the Department of Public Prosecutions.?

Ms Clarke said Mullen arrived at the Bermuda International Airport on a commercial flight from Toronto at 12.10 p.m. on July 9.

Mullen?s suitcase and hands tested positive for drugs when Customs Officers tested them with a chemical swab, she said. But when a personal search yielded negative results, he was forced to stay at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital where between July 10 and July 11 he excreted 97 pellets which were seized by Police.

She said 67 of these pellets contained 363.91 grams of cocaine free-base, or crack, with an estimated street value of $113,700.

Another 26 pellets contained 162.68 grams of diamorphine, or heroin, valued at $455,490, she said, while the remaining four pellets contained 24.33 grams of cannabis resin valued at $2,400.

The prosecutor said an appropriate sentence would range from ten to 12 years.

And the defence said it was taking the unusual course of also suggesting a ten-year sentence for its client ? as the maximum sentence was life or a fine equal to the value of the drugs.

Bermuda?s Chief Justice Richard Ground said Mullen?s early guilty plea was the only mitigating factor.

?If your assistance does lead to the conviction of this man, it may justify you a late appeal at the Court of Appeal or carry weight with the Parole Board,? Mr. Justice Ground said.

The Chief Justice sentenced Mullen to ten years for each importation charge for cocaine and heroin and three years for importing cannabis resin. He said all sentences will run concurrently and time already served was to be taken into consideration.