Jail for man over cocaine in Qld airport

A Spanish man who says he thought he was carrying money when he was stopped with 2.3kg of cocaine at Cairns Airport has been sentenced to nine years jail.

A Supreme Court jury on Wednesday found Jose Lozano Garcia, 60, guilty of importing a marketable quantity of a border-controlled drug, seven months after it was found in three bags he'd carried on a flight from Guam.

In sentencing Lozano Garcia, Justice James Henry accepted the man did not know he was carrying cocaine but said he must have known there was a significant risk when he agreed to illegally courier cash.

"You're a lucky man that you chose, of all countries to import to, a democracy," Justice Henry said in the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

"In other lands the penalty imposed for doing what you did would be much worse for you."

Lozano Garcia was promised $A9000 upfront and 9000 euros ($A13,277) later for the deal, which he said he agreed to after falling on hard times during Spain's economic crisis.

The former championship boxer told his three-day trial he didn't check the contents of three bags he received from strangers in Miami.

He also said he asked very few questions of the two Spanish men who organised the deal because he thought it would be better not to know too much.

"When the boss tells you to do something, you do it," he said on Tuesday.

"I wasn't in charge."

The trial also heard Lozano Garcia told customs officers he planned to take a holiday and complete a scuba diving course in Cairns.

Justice Henry took into consideration the man's lack of criminal history and the fact that he had made some submissions during the trial.

He will be eligible for parole in four-and-a-half years minus time already served.