A married father-of-three has been sentenced to five years in jail for a “sophisticated scheme” that saw him rope a customs officer in to a plot to import drugs.Shannon Berkley, 42, from Warwick, pleaded guilty to the offence on March 30, 2011.He was originally charged alongside former customs officer Bromwin Thompson, who denied any role in the conspiracy and has since been cleared.The jury in Mr Thompson’s trial in April was not told that Berkley had admitted the crime. They heard allegations that Mr Thompson conspired with his friend Berkley to import cannabis and cannabis resin worth $54,725.Mr Thompson was working at the FedEx courier facility on Serpentine Road, Pembroke, at the time the drugs arrived on the Island in two packages in 2009.Prosecutor Nicole Smith presented the trial with phone records that she said demonstrated how he and Berkley exchanged information about the packages. She alleged Mr Thompson’s role was to look out for them and intercept them.Mr Thompson denied any role in the plot. He admitted exchanging calls and messages with Berkley but said he had no idea anything illegal was afoot, and was merely looking out for parcels for his friend.The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the first charge Mr Thompson faced relating to the package of cannabis. They cleared him of the second charge, relating to cannabis resin.Ms Smith did not ask for a retrial and dropped the charge the jury had been hung on, allowing Mr Thompson to walk free from court with his name clear. He no longer works as a customs officer.During the sentencing of Berkley on Friday, July 8, Ms Smith said: “The defendant is wholly to be blamed for the commission of these offences. There’s no evidence that the defendant embarked on this criminal undertaking other than for financial gain.”She added that the importation of cannabis is a scourge on Bermuda, saying: “Theft and violence go hand in hand with the drug trade.”Berkley has three children, of whom the eldest is 17. He has a previous conviction for possessing cannabis with intent to supply in September 2008. He was handed a six-month prison term for that offence, and had to forfeit $14,000 in ill-gotten gains.Berkley’s lawyer, Shade Subair, said he only ended up at Supreme Court because he was charged alongside Mr Thompson and he usually would have been dealt with at Magistrates’ Court.She said all the drugs were seized by the authorities and never made it onto the streets, and even if they had, it is unlikely they would have netted Berkley the maximum street value.Stressing Berkley’s remorse, she said despite the fact he has a previous conviction he has always been legitimately employed, mainly as a trucker.“He’s not a thug character, someone who’s spent a lifetime making a living off the illegal drug trade to any degree. This is a stupid transgression on the part of Mr Berkley, which he regrets sorely,” she said.Berkley told Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves: “I’m very sorry your honour, I’m deeply sorry that this case has came in front of you and I’m very sorry to my family and to my wife.”Sentencing him to two years for the cannabis and three years for the resin, to run consecutively, Mr Justice Greaves said: “This defendant has shown himself to be a sophisticated businessman in the illegal drug industry. Not only has he previously been convicted and had a substantial sum forfeited, but in [this] case it’s a sophisticated scheme where he was able to employ the services of a public servant, a customs officer, in order to achieve his objective.“Whether that involvement [of Mr Thompson] was innocent or not, it’s an aggravating factor, and strikes at the confidence of John Citizen.”