HAMILTON, Bermuda– A 55-year-old British man who had fallen on hard times has been jailed for five-and-a-half years by a Supreme Court judge after he admitted smuggling almost US$500,000 of drugs into Bermuda.
Edward Odell, from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, was sentenced on Friday, having earlier pleaded guilty to carrying 4,333 grams of cannabis and 643 grams of MDMA – commonly known as ecstasy – in a suitcase when he landed in Bermuda on a British Airways flight in February 2020.
“Drugs are the scourge of Bermuda and at the center of most of our social ills,” said Puisne Judge Juan Wolffe
Prosecutor Cindy Clarke said Odell had passed through the customs green channel at L.F. Wade International Airport carrying a sizeable grey suitcase.
But customs officers ordered him to step aside for a search of his luggage and found seven “suspicious” packages hidden behind the lining of the suitcase. Three heat-sealed packages contained a brown resin, and the other four had grey tablets.
Clarke said that Odell told customs officers that he had “no idea” how the packages came in his luggage.
But he later pleaded guilty to two counts of importing cannabis and ecstasy with a combined street value of US$496,950, with intent to supply.
For the defense, Mark Pettingill told the court that Odell had “fallen on hard times” and been “duped” into taking the trip to Bermuda.
He added that Odell had had no contact with his family since his arrest and that he was also suffering from a medical condition that might require surgery.
Apologizing before being sentenced, Odell told the court that he had run a successful business in Britain but began suffering mental health issues after being separated from his young son.
and then 