HAMILTON: A 29-year-old drug smuggler, convicted last month by a Supreme Court jury for his role in a near US$6-million cannabis plot, has been jailed for 10 years.
Darrin Virgil received his sentence on Monday for his involvement in the drug-smuggling operation which saw the drugs arrive on the island in a shipment of steel that originated in Ontario, Canada.
He was found guilty last month of conspiracy to import and supply the drugs after a two-month trial.
A second man, Brian Anderson, 52, admitted helping to move the drugs once they had arrived in Bermuda and was sentenced to three years behind bars.
At the trial the jury freed three other co-defendants.
John Jefferis was found not guilty by a majority verdict of 10-2, while brothers Corte Gibbons and Iman Gibbons were cleared by a unanimous verdict.
Originally, seven men and one woman were charged in connection with the case.
However, Anderson pleaded guilty during the trial and three other defendants — Dina Tucker, Damon Edwards and Shannon Trott — were found not guilty after Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves ruled that there was insufficient evidence to convict them.
The jury heard that in November 2012 Customs officers processing cargo of the Bermuda Container Line’s Oleander ran an X-ray of a container with several steel sheets and noticed a series of rectangular objects hidden inside.
Days later, police watched as the container was delivered to the Abbott’s Cliff area of Hamilton Parish.
Officers discovered that hidden inside the steel sheets were 119 kilogrammes of cannabis, with an estimated street value of more than US$5.9 million.
Prosecutor Takiyah Burgess told the court that Virgil and Anderson committed the offences for their “own personal gain”:.
“The evidence suggested that this was not an isolated incident, but part of an ongoing operation which was halted by the interception of these drugs by police,” she added.
