Nine years jail for 'naive' drug mule

A woman caught trying to import up to $5 million worth of methamphetamine from Papua New Guinea has been sentenced to nine-and-a-half years jail.

PNG woman Mary Ruby Yawari was arrested at Cairns Airport in October 2013 after she was found with 3.9kg of the drug stashed in a bag.

She pleaded guilty in the Cairns Supreme Court on Thursday to importing a commercial quantity of border-controlled drugs.

Justice Jim Henry said Yawari was a "naive mule" who must have known she was importing an illicit substance, although she might not have known exactly what it was and how much was in the bag.

He described Yawari, the former wife of a PNG governor, as the "most unlikely candidate as an international drug trafficker".

The court heard Yawari's passport and flights were paid for by a man she barely knew.

Other than flights to Cairns and the opportunity to go shopping in the city, she was not offered any financial reward for importing the drug.

Yawari has been in custody since her arrest and will be eligible for parole in early 2018.