Jamaican man who tried to smuggle cocaine into Bermuda in their stomachs.

Victoria Zambardi, 36, of Brooklyn, New York, and Cassell Reid, 35, of Jamaica, were caught at the Airport in separate incidents. They were sentenced in Supreme Court last Thursday.

Zambardi arrived on a flight from the United States on December 29 with 51 "pellets'' of crack cocaine inside her stomach and another 11 pellets in her handbag, Senior Crown Counsel Mr. Brian Calhoun told Chief Justice the Hon.

Austin Ward.

Reid arrived from the US on November 30, having swallowed 88 "cylindrical objects'' containing 431.1 grams of 82 percent pure cocaine.

Both drug carriers were described as innocent people desperate for money who were exploited by drug lords. Both pleaded guilty and have been in custody since their arrests.

Zambardi, who carried drugs worth $93,750 on Bermuda streets, was promised a total of $2,000 for her work, court was told. Reid, whose drugs had a street value of $138,500, was to be paid $1,500. Neither had a previous criminal record.

"This very method of importing drugs into Bermuda by swallowing, and the attendant dangers of rupture and almost certain death implies the desperation in which these people ... find themselves,'' said lawyer Mr. Archibald Warner.

The hard luck stories of drug mules were "all too familiar,'' Mr. Calhoun said. But so were "the effects of these drugs on the people of Bermuda and the various offences that flow from them.'' Mr. Warner said Zambardi, an unemployed part-time singer, needed cash to start legal proceedings to gain custody of her seven-year-old son Christopher, who was "virtually abducted ... by the child's father'' at age four.

"That special bond between mother and child is always a mitigating factor,'' Mr. Warner said.

Zambardi, who co-operated with Police but could not identify who gave her the drugs, "realises that what she has done was to say the least foolish,'' Mr.

Warner said. "But she was not aware of the very serious penalties in Bermuda.'' "I'd like you to have some mercy on me,'' Zambardi said from the prisoner's dock. "I want to go home and see my son.'' Reid, an unemployed cruise ship waiter, has a wife and three chil dren in Jamaica to support, Mr. Warner said.

He lost his job for medical reasons and spent his savings on treatment for his medical condition, the lawyer said.

Reid named the man who gave him the drugs in Miami, and described him and his car, but Police could not use the information to make an arrest, Court was told.

Mr. Warner noted that the next day was Good Friday. While the Court of Appeal had called for stiff prison sentences for drug smuggling, "they should not tell the judges that they should wash their hands, like Pontius Pilate,'' he said.

Reid apologised for his crime and asked for mercy. "I hope the ones who have sent me here with the drugs will be caught and brought to justice,'' he said.

"I have learned my lesson the hard way.''