The teenage nephew of regiment commander Lt. Col. Eddie Lamb has been jailed for three and a half years for importing more than $60,000 of drugs.

Ricardo James Lamb, 19, of Sofar Drive, St. David's, who has Col. Lamb as his legal guardian, swallowed 47 pellets of cocaine and 11 pellets of cannabis resin but was picked up by a sniffer dog after arriving from New York in July last year.

He was questioned about a recent trip to Jamaica but a search by customs officers revealed nothing.

Lamb was then taken to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital where an X-ray showed the pellets in his stomach.

He later passed pellets containing 179 grammes of cocaine worth $56,000 on the streets of Bermuda and 52 grammes of cannabis worth $5,200.

Lamb had pleaded guilty to importing cannabis and cocaine at an earlier hearing.

Yesterday in Supreme Court prosecutor Anthony Blackman urged Assistant Justice Archibald Warner not to place too great an emphasis on Lamb's young age when considering the sentencing.

He said: "This court is well aware of the practice of using the very young and the very old in the hope the courts will draw on age as a mitigating factor."

Mr. Blackman said Lamb was old enough to know what he was doing was wrong.

He said Lamb had jacked in his job without giving notice to go to Jamaica. "He admitted he had practical experience with cocaine, marijuana and ecstasy."

The prosecution called for a four-year sentence with Lamb being put on a drugs rehabilitation programme.

Lamb's lawyer Kay Thomas said Lamb had not been paid any money for swallowing the pellets but had been threatened.

She said: "He was coerced into swallowing the pellets. He's only 19. He can turn his life around. He's still in his formative years."

Lamb had plans to become a chef and was investigating a course in Nova Scotia said Ms Thomas but a jail sentence would scupper his plans.

She said he had been abused by his stepfather and neglected by his mother and had never had a relationship with his father.

His uncle Col. Lamb had obtained custody and Lamb was being brought up by his grandparents, explained Ms Thomas. She said Col. Lamb had a proven track record of giving guidance to wayward youths and called for a suspended sentence of between two to three years.

Lamb begged for leniency. He said: "It's not an ordeal that will be repeated. There were life threatening circumstances."

Mr. Warner said he had taken into account Lamb's age, lack of previous convictions and guilty plea but said there was no other appropriate sanction other than prison.

He sentenced Lamb to three and a half years in prison with time spent in custody taken into account.