A jury in Bermuda’s Supreme Court found Mary Johnson, 53, of Edgeway Lane, Pembroke, guilty of conspiring to import millions of dollars’ worth of cannabis into Bermuda.[1] US drug enforcement agents detained her at Newark Liberty International Airport on 21 October 2010, just after she boarded her return flight to the island.[1] The 49kg of wrapped cannabis bricks hidden in her luggage could have sold for $2.4 million on Bermuda’s streets.[1] The cannabis was in the false bottoms of four pieces of luggage delivered to her Newark hotel room the night before her flight home.[1]
Johnson told the jury she never knew what the bags contained and feared being targeted by gangsters if she did not bring the “illegal” luggage back from the United States.[1] She said she accepted $2,570 in cash from a Bermudian drug dealer known as “KJ”, of the Deepdale area of Pembroke, who booked her trip and paid for her air ticket.[1] She told the jury two Bermudians, a man described as a “Deepdale man” and a woman, delivered the bags to her hotel, and that she felt threatened when the man photographed her with them.[1]
Prosecutor Larissa Burgess told the jury in closing that the first question Johnson asked the US special agent who detained her was whether she would be arrested before the bags were searched.[1] Defence lawyer Larry Mussenden argued the Crown had not proved a conspiracy and that Johnson should be acquitted if the jury found she acted under duress.[1] The jury deliberated for less than an hour before returning its verdict.[1] Johnson whispered “I told you, they’ll kill me” before being led from the dock, and was remanded in custody until sentencing in November.[1]