pleaded guilty in Magistrates' Court to possessing cannabis.

Police prosecutor Sgt. Phil Taylor said on Friday that Neal Anthony Valez, 23, of New York, arrived in Bermuda on an American Airlines flight at 11.30 a.m.

on August 19.

Customs officers, during a routine search, found five homemade cigarettes which they suspected contained cannabis in Valez' suitcase.

He was arrested and taken to St. George's Police Station where the contents were found to be 8.9 grams of the drug cannabis.

Valez told the court he was sorry for bringing the cannabis into Bermuda and that he didn't know "the laws were so intolerant'' against cannabis.

This prompted Senior Magistrate Will Francis to reply: "This stuff is not legal in the Bronx, is it?'' Mr. Francis then ordered Valez to pay a $800 fine.