in a speaker unit and a clothes iron was jailed for eight years yesterday.

It took a seven-man, five-woman Supreme Court jury approximately two hours to find Antoine Russell Wade, of George's Bay Lane, Sandys Parish guilty of importing and possessing withintent to supply 350 grams of cocaine.

Chief Justice Austin Ward sentenced Wade 31, to serve eight years imprisonment for each of the charges. The sentences are to run concurrently.

The jury had heard that Wade was detained at the Airport and later arrested on July 28 last year.

More than 350 grams of cocaine with a possible value of $105,000 was found hidden inside a speaker unit and a clothes iron.

Wade told Police and Customs officials the two items were bought for a friend, Lemont Smith, from a Radio Shack in New York.

He later cooperated with Police in an unsuccessful controlled delivery attempt to Smith.

But during closing arguments Crown Counsel Patrick Doherty told the jury Wade's story "didn't make a great deal of sense''.

Mr. Doherty accepted that people often ask their friends to buy items from overseas in order to benefit from cheaper prices.

But the iron bought and used by Police in the controlled delivery was cheaper than the price Wade told officers he paid in the US.

Mr. Doherty also reminded the jury that the manager of the Radio Shack electronics store said irons were never sold there.

Wade originally told the Customs officer that he had gone to New York to pick up school supplies.

But when he arrived at the Airport there was no evidence of items specifically related to school.

Mr. Doherty argued that Wade's later attempt to classify clothes as school supplies showed he had been caught out.

Earlier in the trial Wade had claimed the signatures found on Police notes did not resemble his.

But Mr. Doherty described the Police investigation as "scrupulous'' and said the officers went "above and beyond the call of duty and gave Wade the opportunity to examine the notes''.

He said Wade's rejection of the notes was a further attempt to modify his story.

Mr. Doherty said Wade's cooperation with Police was a greater indication of knowledge than of innocence.

The Crown counsel also suggested defence attorney Marc Telemaque was reluctant to "probe too deeply'' into the running of the Radio Shack store for fear of finding something that proved his client wrong.

"Anyone can come to Bermuda with cocaine and claim they don't know,'' said Mr. Doherty. "They do it for money. A little bit of cocaine is worth a lot of money.'' Mr. Telemaque said the inferences the Crown counsel was asking the jury to make amounted to "mental gymnastics''.

He said his client's story had remained the same throughout his arrest and trial, but that the Police and Customs note takers were forced to "shift''.

Mr. Telemaque made specific mention of the meeting on July 29 with Wade and officers in charge of the investigation.

Customs officer O'Brien Roberts told the court he remembered Det. Con. Barry Richards asked Wade about the content of the two packages of cocaine.

However, no record of the question or answer was found in the notes written by Det. Con. Richards.

Mr. Telemaque said the possible omission of the exchange showed the notes to be inaccurate.

He went on to describe the notes as the "common thread'' throughout the case.

He told the jury: "Since then everybody has refreshed their memory from Richard's notes which are not accurate.'' The notes also record a promise by Insp. Legay Farley to make a special note of Wade's cooperation in the controlled delivery attempt.

But this was later denied by several of the meeting's participants, including Wade.

"We have not said there has been conspiracy or forgery. But there have been inaccuracies,'' said Mr. Telemaque.

"If things have been left out, so the opposite could happen.'' Mr. Telemaque said the Radio Shack manager and "surprise witness'' Finley Murray proved very little.

He said Mr. Murray could not remember Wade and was only able to identify the speaker and receipt.

Mr. Telemaque asked the jury to consider their own shopping experiences and decide whether or not a receipt always represented what actually happened at the check-out counter.

Wade's failure to declare the iron on his Customs form was no great crime, said his attorney.

"If you have never attempted to avoid Customs, you shouldn't be on the jury,'' said Mr. Telemaque.

After Wade was convicted, Mr. Telemaque asked Chief Justice Ward to take Wade's age, cooperation with the Police, previous good character and two children "on both sides of the Atlantic'' into account.

And Wade apologised for any "inconvenience'' to the court and jury.

"I maintain my innocence but I also accept the fact that I had a fair trial,'' said Wade. "I am the sole provider for both of my children. I believe that they continue to need a father in their life.'' But the Chief Justice rejected Wade's appeal and called the importation and possession of hard drugs very serious.

"I cannot be sympathetic to the accused because of his responsibility to children,'' he said.

Mr. Justice Ward also noted that the amount of cocaine involved could have caused much damage to the Island.