Brazilians jailed for $5m cocaine stash

Two Brazilian men who tried to smuggle $5 million of cocaine into Queensland were trying to solve the financial woes of their families, a court has heard.

Edmo Cunha, 27, and Gean Carlos Rosso Bernardo, 24, were arrested in February last year at the Brisbane International Airport after customs officers noticed an "abnormal bulge" in Cunha's groin region.

Both men were found to be concealing three packages of cocaine each, totalling about 5kg, with a street value of over $5 million.

The Brisbane Supreme Court on Wednesday heard Rosso Bernardo, a civil engineering student, was motivated by financial gain for both his ill mother and himself.

His lawyer, Christopher Watson, said Rosso Bernardo passed "the point of no return" when he boarded his flight.

"The choice of facing the authorities in Australia is probably a better choice than if he got rid of the contraband and went back to Brazil to be dealt with by say, underworld figures," Mr Watson told court.

Cunha was also motivated by financial woes, after he was involved in a car accident with a soccer teammate and caused about $8000 damage, while his family also struggled to pay his father's medical bills.

The teammate, described as "a bad person" by Cunha's friends, proposed he transport a package to Australia in the place of money and he was fearful of what would happen if the debt was not settled.

Both defendants wrote letters to the court apologising for their conduct.

"The offences are particularly serious and it is necessary that the court impose sentences which are likely to deter others from committing other similar offences," Justice John Byrne said.

Rosso Bernardo, whose packages contained higher-purity cocaine that constituted a "commercial quantity" of the drug, received a sentence of nine years with a non-parole period of five years and six months

Cunha was handed a sentence of eight years with a non-parole period of five years.