A magistrate on Thursday sentenced an admitted drug courier to four years in prison. Junior Anthony Davis, 35, of Pinewood Gardens, and Clarendon, Jamaica, pleaded guilty to smuggling two kilos of cocaine into The Bahamas from Panama at his arraignment before Magistrate Carolita Bethell. Police at the Lynden Pindling International Airport found the drugs hidden in a false compartment in Davis' suitcase, the prosecutor said.

Police searched Davis after his arrival on Copa Airlines because he was acting suspiciously, the court heard. Davis told investigators he was paid $2,000 to deliver the drugs to a person identified only as Gary. Before the magistrate passed sentence, Davis explained his unlawful actions.

"It's a hard situation. I was going through a rough time." Davis asked the court to have mercy on him. Magistrate Bethell imposed the mandatory minimum sentence. She told Davis, who was born in Freeport, Grand Bahama but raised in Jamaica, that he could apply to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a transfer to a Jamaican prison so he could be closer to his family and friends. If Davis decides to serve his time here, Bethell ordered his deportation on completion of his sentence.

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