jury found him guilty of attempting to mastermind a bid to import more than $280,000 of cannabis.

Andrew Fox, 30, a truck driver of Vaucrosson's Crescent, Pembroke, sat impassively in the dock after the jury unanimously found him guilty of conspiracy to import a controlled drug and importing a controlled drug.

Three people, all workers for Bermuda Aviation Services at the airport, had already been sentenced in connection with the drugs, which were seized soon after entering the country in January of last year.

Fox was partially sunk by the testimony of one -- Antowyn Robert Bennett, a former Airport freight worker, who said the accused had offered him $10,000 to bring in the drugs in January last year.

Assistant Justice Archibald Warner noted Fox's clean record but said: "However you have shown no remorse.

"The other three defendants pled guilty, but you still shied away from your liability by pleading not guilty. "There are no mitigating factors for sentencing.'' Crown counsel Dorien Taylor called for a sentence of ten years.

He said: "The defendant was the mastermind, the architect of this crime.'' However defence counsel Mark Pettingill said Fox was merely the middle man who had failed to carry through with the crime and had walked away from the airport rather than collect the drugs package.

Mr. Justice Warner said that made no difference to the charge of conspiracy.

He said; "Those defendants were remorseful and contrite, your client has shown no such remorse. I concur with the Crown that your client was, in fact, the architect.

Drug importer jailed "If there wasn't the well-founded belief that there were people like your client to take the drugs maybe they would not be sent in the first place.'' He sentenced Fox to seven years on both charges with the sentences to run concurrently.

Fox confessed to Police that a package he had gone to collect at the airport in January last year had contained 12 and a half pounds of marijuana for another person not before the court.

However, despite pleading not guilty, Fox chose not to take the witness stand and mount a defence.

Earlier this week the court heard how a Police officer and sniffer dogs discovered the three packages of plant material at the airport on January 9 last year.

They were contained in a false bottom of a cardboard box, which also included locks and door knobs, and had arrived on the Island via a flight from New York.

It was alleged to be addressed to Ward's Locksmith in Hamilton and a label on the box said it had been sent by a locksmith in New York.

However, the court heard from locksmith Norman Ward that he had not ordered any supplies from New York, and nor had his sole employee.

The court heard how the plan was for the box to be intercepted by the three workers at the airport, and the drugs removed and transported into Bermuda.

On January 17, Victor Arthur Bean, 38, of Area View Road, Devonshire, Antowyn Robert Bennett, 32, of Mount Road, St. George's, and Kenneth Maurice Smith, 48, of Slip Road, St. George's, were found by Police to be involved in the drugs.

They each pleaded guilty to their charges, and were dealt with by the court this week.