A Jamaican who has been a resident of Bermuda for 20 years and was caught trying to import cocaine with a street value of $250,000 onto the Island has been sent to jail for ten years.

Father-of-three Lincoln George Brown, 38, was sent down after being found guilty of bringing 939.81 grams of cocaine onto the Island hidden in the pockets of jeans stowed in a suitcase.

Puisne Judge Ian Kawaley was told that the street value of the drugs ranged from $99,000 if sold in bulk to $253,125 if sold in small wraps.

Mechanic Brown, of Rock Valley, Warwick, had no previous convictions and maintained that he did not know the drugs were hidden in the jeans that he had agreed to carry from Jamaica to Bermuda for an acquaintance in April, 2003.

But a Supreme Court jury found Brown guilty of importing the cocaine with intent to supply after a trial which ended in July.

Brown had claimed that a man called Barney, who he was on nodding terms with in Bermuda had, at Montego Bay Airport in Jamaica, asked him to carry some jeans in his case for his girlfriend.

Another man had then put the jeans into Brown's case. Brown told the court that he had not checked the contents of the jeans before boarding a flight to Bermuda.

When he arrived at Bermuda International Airport on April 5, 2003, he was stopped at Customs and the cocaine was discovered taped to the back pockets of seven of the eight pairs of jeans in his suitcase.

Defence lawyer Shade Subair presented lengthy argument to Mr. Justice Kawaley for any custodial sentence not to be at the higher end of the scale, arguing that Brown previously had no criminal record.

Before being sentenced Brown, whose girlfriend gave birth to his latest child only two months ago, told the judge: "I had no intention of importing any drugs into Bermuda."

Mr. Justice Kawaley sentenced Brown to two concurrent ten year jail terms for bringing the controlled drug into the country and for possession with intent to supply.