Photo: photo / 123R
The criminal court in French Polynesia has given a nine-year jail sentence to a man convicted for running a methamphetamine importation ring.
Yannick Mai had already been given a 10 year sentence in absentia when others were tried and convicted two years ago for importing the banned drug from the US.
The group had been fined $US7.2 million for smuggling 7.2 kilogrammes of the drug.
At the time of their trial, Mai was in a US jail serving a sentence for drugs possession but on his release this year he was transferred to Tahiti.
In court in Papeete, Mai, who used to work as a tour guide, denied the accusations and claimed he was the victim of a plot.
His lawyer unsuccessfully challenged the arrest warrant as the basis of the trial.