A Canadian national was yesterday sentenced to 12 years in prison after being found guilty of attempting to bring drugs valued at more than $721,000 into Bermuda.

Patrick Anthony Howe has been on trial this week at Supreme Court charged with importation and possession with intent to supply 2,000 grams of the recreational drug ketamine, popularly known as 'Special K'.

But yesterday a jury found him guilty and Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves jailed the 41-year-old, of Ontario, for 12 years.

Howe said during the three-day trial that he had been pressured into carrying the drugs by someone he had borrowed money from. He said the person had threatened to kill his family when he was unable to fully repay the amount he had borrowed.

Before he was sentenced, Howe apologised to the court saying that he was forced to carry the drugs into Bermuda after borrowing money to repay a debt to his employers.

"I'm sorry for what I have done and I'm asking for your mercy," he added.

However prosecutor Brett Webber said drug importation and distribution was a major problem on the Island and needed to be stopped.

He reminded the jury that if Howe had not been caught, 7,214 tablets of ketamine would have been available on the Island destroying families.

He asked that Howe be jailed for between ten to 15 years.

Defence lawyer Kenrick James told the jury that they should consider that fact that Howe was afraid and had been threatened into bringing the drugs to the Island.

He told them that Howe was remorseful and embarrassed and was thankful the drugs had been intercepted.

He said Howe was a family man with three children with a Christian upbringing and that this was totally out of character.

During the three-day trial, the defendant told the court he had borrowed money in March from his barber, Horace Chin in Canada, to repay a debt owed to his employers, Air Canada.

Howe said a man only known to him as 'G-Boy' approached him at the barbershop and later threatened to harm him and his family if he did not agree to carry a vest with the drugs inside to Bermuda.

According to Detective Constable Alickson Severin, the tablets found on Howe were each worth between $50 and $100 if sold on the streets.

Thus, the total value was $360,700 if sold at $50; $541,050 if sold at $75; and $721,400 if sold at $100.

Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves said that he did not approve of Howe attempting to ruin the character of a Police officer, after, what it seems, he had time to characterise a story.

He told Howe that he would take into consideration that this is his first offence and his early guilty plea and then sentenced him to 12 years imprisonment.