A woman who said she was promised $100,000 to carry ganja to Antigua received a more costly payment when she was sent to prison on Wednesday.

Evelyn Edwards, 42, from Brown's Town, St Ann, pleaded guilty to the charges against her when she appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court.

It is alleged that she checked in at the Norman Manley International Airport on a flight to Antigua. She was stopped and searched and 6lb (2.7 KGs) of ganja was found strapped to her waist. She was arrested and charged with possession of ganja, dealing in ganja and taking steps to export ganja.

She told the court when being questioned by Resident Magistrate Glen Brown that it was her first time going to Antigua and that the man who asked her to carry the drugs had promised her $100,000 but she claimed she had not been paid any of the money so far.

RM Brown then fined and sentenced her. She was fined $9,000 or six months for possession of ganja. She was admonished and discharged for dealing in ganja and fined $36,000 or six months for taking steps to export ganja. In addition she was sentenced to three months imprisonment at hard labour.