worth of cocaine into Bermuda was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

William Victor Harris -- who had complained to the Cabinet Office about being searched just one month earlier -- was searched at the Civil Air Terminal when he arrived on April 19.

Customs officers discovered that his suitcase had a false bottom. Inside they found a package which contained 953 grams of 84 percent pure cocaine.

Harris, a frequent visitor to the Island since 1990, had come to Bermuda a month before. He was searched and afterwards he made official complaints to Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Finance because he felt that Customs officials had unfairly singled him out.

"I came to Bermuda 12 to 13 times,'' he told the Hon. Mr. Justice Ground in the Supreme Court. "After my third trip I was singled out. I complained because I wanted to be treated fairly like everyone else.'' Crown Counsel Mr. Brian Calhoun asked for a sentence range of eight to 12 years.

"The defendant is not a young offender. He only complained about the search because he wanted to prevent the later search that revealed a substantial amount of high purity cocaine,'' Mr. Calhoun said.

Harris maintained the suitcase was not his. He said another man gave it to him in New York to bring to Bermuda to pass on to another person.

Mr. Archie Warner, representing Harris, said his client was not a young man who knows that he faces a substantial period of imprisonment.

"He only pleaded guilty because he wants to get back to his family. He wants to right the wrongs. His guilty plea should be a strong mitigating factor.'' But Mr. Justice Ground did not accept Harris' story that he was carrying the suitcase for another person. He said that Harris had been to Bermuda enough times and was familiar with the customs procedures at the Airport.

He then sentenced Harris to ten years in prison.