guilty of drug possession.

William Lipshutz and Andrea Sanderlin, both from New York, arrived at the Civil Air Terminal on December 10 for a long weekend. A search by customs officers turned up marijuana and the illegal drug Ecstasy.

Sanderlin, 25, admitted in Magistrates' Court to carrying 4.66 grammes of cannabis in her sock. The drug was discovered during a search carried out after cigarette papers were found in her knapsack. She was fined $300.

Lipshutz was also arrested when he took a packet of tablets out of his shoe and gave them to a Customs officer during a search of his person.

The tablets turned out to be the controlled drug methylenedioxynethylamphetamine -- more commonly known as Ecstasy.

Lawyer for the New York couple, Mr. Jeffrey Elkinson, told the court that Lipshutz was only holding the drug for his companion and was unaware it was illegal. He denied the charge in court last week.

Both defendants said she asked him to hold the packet of tablets which they believed to be painkillers.

It was Sanderlin, a music manager, who suggested he hide the packet in his shoe.

Mr. Elkinson argued Lipshutz was not guilty of drug possession because he did not believe the tablets were illegal, nor did he have reason to suspect they might be.

Sgt. Rex Osborne, prosecuting, said the story was concocted "to try and save the face of the defendant''.

Acting Magistrate the Wor. Michael Smith found the 39-year-old financial analyst guilty of drug possession and fined him $600.

"The fact that he put the packet in his shoe meant he had reason to suspect the drugs were illegal,'' he said.