A Sandys man has been jailed for three years after admitting importing $300,000 of cannabis resin into the Island.

Lorenzo Dill, 22, pleaded guilty to importing the cannabis resin on August 9 by ingesting 76 cylindrical tubes of the drug while in Jamaica.

In Magistrates' Court on Friday, the construction labourer told Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner: "I just want to say I wasn't in my right mind at the time."

Dill is a former patient at Mid Atlantic Wellness Institute, explained Crown counsel Larissa Burgess.

The court heard that Dill, of Bob's Valley Lane, arrived on the Island at 8.15 p.m. after boarding a commercial flight from Miami, Florida.

He cleared immigration and collected one piece of luggage from the baggage claim, then proceeded to the secondary inspection area.

It was here that Dill was stopped by Customs officers who received word of his attempt to smuggle in drugs.

Officers searched Dill's luggage, an Adidas red, black and white bag, but found nothing suspicious.

They cautioned him at the airport Police station, then escorted him to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital where an X-Ray of his stomach showed a large amount of foreign substances in the large and small intestine.

After 12 days at the hospital, more than 70 cylindrical shaped objects were removed from his body; and taken to a Government analysis for testing.

The results showed there was 300.11 grams of cannabis resin in the cylinders.

Police arrested Dill, and he admitted to swallowing the objects while in Jamaica and claimed the cannabis was for his own personal use.

If sold on the streets of Bermuda in 0.5 gram blocks or cakes, the estimated value would be $300,000.

Mr. Warner ordered Dill to spend three years in prison, adding: "The sentence must fit the offence. Amounts like this are a serious offence and must be deterred."

Though Dill also admitted to possessing the cannabis resin with intent to supply, Ms Burgess offered no evidence on that charge.