Two men convicted this week of importing cocaine will spend 13 years behind bars for the crime.

Lang Onley, 40, of 12 Harvest Lane, Hamilton Parish and Richard Ricardo Steede, 39, of 12 Kitty's Drive, Hamilton Parish were convicted unanimously by a Supreme Court jury on Wednesday for conspiring to import more than a pound of cocaine into Bermuda, and importing 13.9 grams of cannabis.

The jury found Onley guilty of possession of cocaine, importation of cannabis, possession of cocaine with intent to supply, and simple possession of cannabis.

Steede was found guilty of importation of cocaine, importation of cannabis, and handling cocaine with intent to supply.

Before sentencing Steede and Onley yesterday, Puisne Judge Norma Wade-Miller said she agreed with the Court of Appeal ruling that those who are caught trafficking drugs should be severely dealt with.

Steede, who was convicted in March this year for a separate matter of possession of cocaine with intent to supply and received eight years in prison, will serve the 13-year sentence after he completes the eight-year term at Westgate Correctional Facility.

Yesterday, Crown counsel Peter Eccles called Steede the mastermind behind the importation of the cocaine.

Citing an earlier drug case, Mr. Eccles suggested a sentence of 14 years imprisonment for Onley.

He drew a distinction between a courier who carried drugs for money and someone who arranged the entire sophisticated scheme.

During the trial the court heard how 16 golf clubs were used to import $138,000 worth of cocaine between March 28 and 31, last year.

Mr. Eccles told Mrs. Justice Wade-Miller the cocaine-laced golf clubs would have eluded authorities if Police had not received information about the shipment.

Pair jailed for 13 years He said Steede's involvement in the scheme to import the cocaine was more significant than Onley even though he was "a player''.

Steede, he said, was the director or senior partner and Onley was the assistant.

Mr. Eccles urged the judge to give Steede a prison term of 15 to 20 years.

Steede's lawyer, Richard Hector, said during mitigation that his client was the father of eight children. Five of the children, he noted, were in Jamaica and three in Bermuda. He said the oldest child was 15 and the youngest was three years old.

Mr. Hector said there was no evidence that Steede played a large role in the scheme. He said he suspected the jury based their decision on the pieces of paper found by Police, rather than the testimony of James Lambert a Crown witness.

The court heard during the trial Police searched Onley after his arrest and found a pink piece of paper in his pocket with the airway bill number to the golf clubs which arrived in Bermuda by courier service on March 28, last year.

A yellow post-it paper was found at Steede's residence on March 31 during a Police raid. This piece of paper bore the same airway bill number as the one taken from Onley.

And a torn Gibbons Company deposit slip found on Steede matched one Police discovered in Onley's pocket.

He claimed the prosecutor was asking too much to say his client was the ringleader.

Mr. Hector said the case cited by the Crown was one involving $2 million worth of cocaine and the parties concerned in that case conspired to import cocaine over a long period.

He also argued that Steede did not have the impressive criminal record the Crown was making out.

He noted there was no reason to treat Steede any worse than Onley.