Counsel warned this week.

Nevertheless an appeal court panel opted against increasing the three and a half year prison sentence of a woman who smuggled more than four kilograms of cannabis into the country.

Crown Counsel Mr. Khamisi Tokumbo brought the appeal on Monday on the grounds the sentence passed by Puisne Judge Mr. Justice Meerabux on January 5 was "manifestly inadequate''.

Keitha Steede, 30, a hairstylist and single mother of one, pleaded guilty to importing the drugs worth more than $200,000 when she arrived at the Civil Air Terminal on a New York flight last year.

Customs officials discovered 4,358.4 grams of cannabis worth $218,000 when they punctured a false bottom of her suitcase.

Steede claimed she had been recruited by her ex-husband and another person to pick up the drugs in New York and bring them to Bermuda.

She said she agreed because she needed the money to support her six-year-old daughter.

But Mr. Tokumbo argued the fact that Steede was the mother of a young child was not a mitigating factor.

"It is characteristic of couriers that they are in a poor financial position,'' he said.

"The judge's starting point for the sentence was incorrect,'' he said. "He is setting the principle of substantial mitigation because she had a young child.

"It will open the floodgates for mothers with young children to get reduced sentences. It is often these kind of people who are attracted to this kind of activity.'' But the appeal judges deemed the sentence was not far enough outside Mr.

Tokumbo's recommendation of a four to six year prison sentence to be deemed "manifestly inadequate''.