Convicted drug dealer Aldo Pace will have to hand over $300,000 to Government, Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons ruled on Tuesday.

Pace, aged 49, of North Shore Road, Hamilton Parish, was a commercial fisherman and owner of Aldo's Carpets prior to his incarceration. A total of $321,152.90 of his assets will be seized.

"He said he was an unsophisticated businessman, however, the law is clear and poor records are no excuse," Mrs. Justice Simmons said. "I reject the defence's arguments that the contents of his accounts were all legitimately earned. No evidence was presented to show innocent transfers of money. He has benefited from the proceeds of drug trafficking."

Pace was ordered to pay the money in three months or spend a year in prison for every $10,000 unpaid.

"The legislation is draconian and it is intended to be, such is the scourge of drugs on our society," Mrs. Justice Simmons said. "Drug traffickers do not normally advertise the benefits they make from trafficking."

In between several postponed hearings, Pace was made to obtain the value of "Bayview" in Bailey's Bay and his fishing vessel, which she said were substantial.

Around $25,000 in cash was seized from his Bailey's Bay home in 2003.

Pace claimed he was holding it for his mother after for an overpayment of a US hospital bill.

His story did not convince the judge because much of the cash was Bermudian and not US currency.

Pace admitted to Police on March 26, 2003 that he received drugs but did not sell it after nearly $40,000 of cannabis was seized from his home.

Aldo's Carpets put around $66,000 into an account between 1997 and 2003, she said, but Pace "lost" many of his receipts.

She said there was an unexplained total of approximately $218,925 from the business which she took as the value of drug trafficking.

The fishing business included approximately $72,050 which were cheques to pay for a drug debt and 14 nights of fishing and private parties, she said.

The judge also ruled Pace's expenditures on cars and other items were "hopelessly intertwined" with those of his wife Sally Ann Pace, who she said was not a party to her husband's criminality. The judge also said Pace satisfied the definition of a drug trafficker according to section three of the Proceeds of Crime Act because of his guilty pleas, therefore the confiscation order would be part of his sentence. Pace was sentenced last month to three years in prison after he pleaded guilty to handling $10,925 worth of crack and cocaine and possessing $37,075 of cannabis with intent to supply in 2003.

But Pace will soon be released from prison because his sentencing almost equalled the time he spent on remand.