Two Jamaican men were sentenced to prison for drug importation yesterday while their alleged Bermuda contact -- `a woman in the red hat' -- remained a mystery.

The two men were smuggling crack cocaine worth close to a $250,000 on the street between them on the same flight from Jamaica to Bermuda when they were caught.

Both men pleaded guilty to importing the drugs but said they did not known each other despite being on the same flight, carrying the drugs internally in the same manner and claiming they were to be met at the airport by a person in a red hat.

Jeffrey Fitzgerald Sharpe, 29, received an eight-year sentence for importing 450.4 grammes of free- base cocaine. Defence lawyer Larry Mussenden appeared for Sharpe.

In a separate hearing, David Lloyd Simster, 32, was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years for importing free-base cocaine and marijuana. Defence attorney Tyrone Chin appeared for Simster.

Crown prosecutor Juan Wolffe told the court that Sharpe arrived in Bermuda on December 13 of last year, having flown in on American Airlines from Jamaica via New York.

Sharpe told customs officials he was on the Island to vacation with his cousin but appeared nervous so they decided to search him.

While a body search found nothing, Sharpe was taken to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for X-rays.

They revealed foreign objects in his stomach and between December 15 and 17, he passed 67 cylindrical pellets in his bowel movements. He later told Police he been asked to take the drugs to Bermuda for $3,000.

The pellets were analysed and found to contain enough crack cocaine for 2,815 rocks. The street value of this amount is estimated at $140,750.

According to Sharpe, an acquaintance in Jamaica asked him to take a trip to Bermuda, Mr. Mussenden told the court.

Sharpe says he refused to co-operate with the plan to smuggle drugs, but was forced by three men at the house to swallow the drug pellets and a liquid intended to freeze up his bowels.

Mr. Justice Ward pointed out that the claims Sharpe made about being forced to swallow the drugs were not in his original statement. "Is this ex post facto recollection,'' he asked.

Mr. Mussenden argued that Sharpe was a pawn in "this dirty business'' and that the part he played was most dangerous to himself in that any of the pellets might have erupted inside him.

He asked that Mr. Ward consider a sentence between five and eight years.

Sharpe, who said he is a Jehovah's Witness, offered apologies to the court but stuck to his claims of being forced to swallow the drugs. "I was taken advantage of in the worst way,'' he said.

He said all he knew about arriving in Bermuda is that he would be met by someone in a red hat and that he had helped Police with their investigations as much as he could.

Mr. Ward said that he had considered all the factors presented for leniency as he handed down the eight-year sentence. "The poor and desperate are the ones who are always exploited.'' In circumstances described by Mr. Wolffe as "uncannily similar to the Sharpe matter'', Simster was also stopped by customs at the airport after arriving from Jamaica on December 13.

After a body search revealed nothing, he was taken to KEMH and X-rayed.

Simster was carrying in his stomach 47 cylinders of crack which is enough to create 2,076 rocks worth $103,800 on the street.

In addition, he was carrying ten cylinders of cannabis, with a street value of approximately $1,900.

Simster was to be paid $4,000 to transport the drugs to Bermuda.

Mr. Chin argued that Simster's co-operation should lead to a considerable discount in his sentence. "He's not a super grass,'' said Mr. Chin, "in that he hasn't given evidence against others'', but he co-operated from the beginning.

Mr. Ward interjected that this was not a case of giving evidence against anybody else. "The woman in the red hat is not in court today,'' he said.

Mr. Wolffe told the court however, that investigations into the Bermuda and Jamaica contacts of the two men were ongoing and that Police had ensured him that Simster had been very cooperative.

"As of yet, maybe just because of the short amount of time that has passed, this has not led to any convictions or arrests but investigations still continue,'' he said. In mitigation, Mr. Chin told the court that Simster was in "dire financial straits'' at the time he agreed to come to Bermuda. He is a construction worker but had not worked in several months.

At the time he accepted the smuggling job, his children had not been able to attend school for three weeks, Mr. Chin told the court, as Simster could not afford bus fares or lunches for them.

"I was wrong, I'm sorry,'' Simster told the court on his own behalf. "I did it for my children and now because of me they are suffering. I apologise.''