HAMILTON (CMC):
A CONVICTED drug dealer, jailed for three years last month, has been ordered to hand over more than US$300,000 by a judge - the largest ever such confiscation in Bermuda.
"The legislation is draconian and it is intended to be, such is the scourge of drugs on our society," Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons told 49 year-old Aldo Pace, a commercial fisherman and owner of a carpet business. "Drug traffickers do not normally advertise the benefits they make from trafficking."
A total of US$321,152.90 of Pace's assets will be seized.
"He said he was an unsophisticated businessman - however, the law is clear and poor records are no excuse," Justice Simmons said. "I reject the defence's arguments that the contents of his accounts were all legitimately earned.
"No evidence was presented to show innocent transfers of money. He has benefited from the proceeds of drug trafficking."
