Bermuda ex-customs officer acquitted on one cannabis import count
A Bermuda Supreme Court jury acquitted former customs officer Bromwin Thompson on one count of conspiring to import cannabis on 8 April 2011 and left the other conspiracy count undecided after the corruption and possession counts were dropped. The trial heard that FedEx packages sent to two restaurants carried drugs worth about $54,000.
A Bermuda Supreme Court jury acquitted former customs officer Bromwin Thompson
of one count of conspiring to import cannabis on 8 April 2011 and could not
reach a decision on the other conspiracy count.[1]The counts of corruption
and of possessing illegal drugs with intent to supply were dropped before the
verdict, leaving only the two conspiracy counts.[1]
Thompson, 36, of Granaway Heights in Southampton, had been charged with two
counts of conspiring to import cannabis and one of possessing illegal drugs with
intent to supply.[1]The trial heard evidence implicating Thompson with
Shannon Berkley, 42, in the importation of cannabis.[1]
Bernews reported that the evidence said FedEx packages addressed to two
restaurants had been used to send the drugs, and that the restaurant management
said they had not ordered the packages.[1]Bernews reported that the total
value of the drugs involved was said to be around $54,000.[1]A seven-woman,
five-man jury deliberated through the day, was redirected to reach a majority
verdict on the undecided count, and did not decide it.[1]
On 28 May 2010 Thompson and Shannon Berkeley had been charged in the
Magistrates’ Court over an alleged $100,000 plot to bring cannabis and cannabis
resin to the island, and both elected trial by judge and jury at the Supreme
Court.[2]Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo released both on $30,000bail after that
hearing, with a pretrial hearing set for 18 June.[2]
Photos and video
Bromwin Thompson pictured leaving court after the jury acquitted him on one conspiracy count on 8 April 2011. Photo: BernewsPhoto details
The Bernews article gives no date beyond its own publication date of 8 April 2011 for the verdict; that date is used.
Bernews is the only account of the trial found, and the report gives no weight for the cannabis involved.
What happened to the undecided conspiracy count after the jury failed to agree is not reported.
The accounts differ on Berkeley's age (41 at the 2010 hearing, 42 at the trial) and spell the surname Berkeley and Berkley.
The $54,000 figure is the value given at trial, while the 2010 charge report described a $100,000 plot.
The outcome of the case against Shannon Berkeley is not reported.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in Bernews: Thompson was working at the FedEx facility on Serpentine Road in Pembroke in 2009 when, the Crown alleged, he used his position as a customs officer to intercept packages sent to Bermuda.
Yemariam Teshome, 21, of Ontario, pleaded not guilty in Bermuda's Supreme Court to conspiring to import more than $1 million of cannabis into the island between an unknown date and 21 June 2026, and to possessing it with intent to supply. A judge set a mention for 11 December and a fixed trial date of 15 February.
Josephine Limberopoulis, 34, and her husband Salih Burns, 32, of Paget deny having cocaine and cannabis with intent to supply, after allegedly being found with almost 69 grams of cannabis and five grams of cocaine in Pembroke. A Bermuda magistrate released both on $8,000 bail until 15 October.
A Bermuda Supreme Court jury unanimously acquitted Sandra Marrero-Guzman, 37, of conspiring to import cannabis and possessing it with intent to supply after customs found 12,876 grams of the drug in her suitcase at LF Wade International Airport in June 2025. The Crown had valued the haul at $1.3 million.
David Mathias, 67, and Danielle Mathias, 36, were charged in Bermuda's Magistrates' Court with importing cannabis and THC or shatter allegedly brought in on 10 May 2020, which the Crown valued at an estimated $6.2 million. Neither had to plead because the case goes to the Supreme Court; both were freed on $50,000 bail to the May arraignments.