Western Bureau: Cheryl Vanhayninger, a 41 year-old sales representative from London, England, will spend the next three months behind bars and is liable to pay over $72,000 to the state as a result of her failed attempt to smuggle eight pounds of ganja from the island on Monday.

Vanhayninger, who pleaded guilty to breaches of the Dangerous Drugs Act in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate’s Court earlier this week, was fined $12,000 or three months for possession of the drug.

For dealing in the contraband, she was fined $24,000 or three months. And for attempting to export the substance she was fined an additional $36,000 or three months and sentenced to a mandatory three months imprisonment.

But even as she pleaded guilty to the charges against her, Vanhayninger said she had not known the ganja was inside her suitcase.

“I am really very sorry for my own stupidity but I really didn’t know it was inside my suitcase,” she told presiding judge, Valerie Stephens.

When the judge asked if she wanted to change the plea, however, Vanhayninger said no, since the drug had been found in her possession.

At about 10:00 pm on March 25, Vanhayninger was on her way out of the island via the Sangster International Airport, when she was stopped at the security check point.

Her suitcase was searched and the eight pounds of ganja was found.