The trial of a Pembroke man accused of smuggling more than $130,000 of cannabis in a tent began in Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

Vain Waldron, 49, had denied charges of importing the controlled drug on May 25 last year and possessing it with intent to supply.

As the trial began, customs officer Lalisha Simmons told the court that at about 10.55am that day, she was on duty at LF Wade International Airport tasked with carrying out secondary inspections.

At about that time, she said that Mr Waldron was sent to a counter with her and a co-worker, Javaughn Simons.

She told the court Mr Waldron had with him a carry-on bag and a second bag containing a tent.

Ms Simmons said that she took notes while Mr Simons questioned Mr Waldron and conducted a search.

During questioning, she said that Mr Waldron confirmed that he had packed his own bags and was aware of their contents.

He also told the customs officers that he had not left the Island since his honeymoon 14 years earlier and had bought the tent because he goes camping every year.

“He also stated that he purchased it right from the store,” Ms Simmons said.

She said that a search of the carry-on bag proved negative, as did an ion swab of that bag. As the search continued, she said that Mr Simons asked Mr Waldron if he had any contact with illegal drugs while he was on vacation, to which he admitted that he “smoked weed” but would not bring it back to Bermuda as he liked to travel.

The customs officers then turned their attention to the bag containing the tent, passing it through an X-ray with inconclusive results.

They then took the tent out of the bag and unrolled it, discovering six tape-wrapped packages hidden inside.

“I turned to Mr Waldron and I asked him, ‘who is this for?’,” Ms Simmons said. “He said, ‘it is mine’, referring to the packages.”

She told the court that the defendant was taken for a personal search, which was conducted by two male officers, before narcotics officers arrived to collect the packages and Mr Waldron.

Defence lawyer Arion Mapp challenged Ms Simmons about the quotes that she attributed to his client, suggesting that he did not say that he bought the tent from a store or talked about how he liked to camp every year.

He also suggested that Mr Waldron had said “I smoke weed” rather than “I smoked weed”, but Ms Simmons maintained he had said the latter.

The court also heard that according to a Government analyst, the packages contained 2,646.8 grams of cannabis, which could fetch as much as $132,350 if sold in Bermuda in half-gram twists.

The trial continues.