A 29-year-old American visitor caught with cocaine and methamphetamine on board the Anthem of the Seas has been fined $600.

Appearing in Magistrates’ Court this morning, Akeem Thompson, from Brooklyn, admitted possessing 0.04 grams of cocaine and 0.51g of methamphetamine on June 3.

The court head that the drugs were discovered after the head pool attendant found an iPhone on deck 14. When he pulled off the case to check for the model number, he found a small plastic bag containing a white powder and another bag containing a grey powder.

He alerted security and a review of the CCTV footage showed the defendant with the phone minutes before it was found by the pool attendant.

Thompson was questioned by security and told them that while he had lost his phone, the one they had in their possession was not his.

Police officers attended the ship yesterday and Thompson again told them that the phone did not belong to him. He was arrested and taken to Hamilton Police Station.

In court today, defence lawyer Susan Mulligan said her client was an “occasional user” of the drugs but had forgotten that they were stashed behind the phone case.

She said this was evident in that he had reported the phone as lost and that the “penny dropped” when the police confronted him about the drugs.

Ms Mulligan also said that Thompson, who was on the cruise with his parents, “meant no disrespect and did not mean to violate any laws”.

Thompson also apologised, attributing the offences to negligence on his part.

Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo handed him two $200 fines, which were both increased to $300 because the drugs fall under Schedule 5 of the Misuse of Drugs Act and are subject to an increased penalty.

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