Three men were cleared of plotting to import drugs to Bermuda on Friday, although one remained on trial on other charges.

Gladwyn Simmons, Ricardo Tucker and George Lambert ? all from Sandys ? were accused of a conspiracy involving a yacht named bringing cannabis to the Island in March 2004. They had been on trial for seven weeks before Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons directed the foreman of the jury to acquit them on Friday morning at the conclusion of the prosecution case.

Lambert remained in the dock on separate charges of possessing cannabis intended for supply and possession of five buckets, an electric saw and plastic wrappings intended for use in preparing cannabis. These relate to a Police search of Lambert?s home on March 13, 2004.

In his opening speech, Crown counsel Carrington Mahoney had told the jury that the buckets and saw had cannabis residue on them and that Police also found what he described as ?cannabis sawdust?.

Lambert, a 53-year-old grandfather, drew laughter from the jury on several occasions during his evidence as a result of his answers to the lawyers? questions. At one point Elizabeth Christopher, for the defence, asked if he had any previous convictions apart from possession of cannabis to which he pleaded guilty at the start of the case.

?Yes. I have a conviction for speeding in a rubber dinghy,? said Lambert who works as a charter boat captain ? repeating his answer when a clearly bemused Mrs. Justice Simmons asked: ?In a rubber dinghy?!?

Asked by his lawyer if he smoked cannabis, he replied: ?Yes. Most guys stop when they get about my age but I?ve not quite got there yet.?

Lambert said there was building work going on in his house at the time of the Police raid and that when the officers arrived he had a friend there named Marion as well as boarder Kwesi Hollis and Hollis? son.

Although he admitted a cannabis cigarette found in his bedroom was his, he said he had never seen buckets that the Police found in his cellar with cannabis in them before.

?I had not seen it before. No, no, no. I may have a little puff (of) marijuana but I don?t keep any that I don?t smoke,? he told Ms Christopher.

Mr. Mahoney questioned Lambert repeatedly on the dates surrounding his travel to Canada, Jamaica and Haiti prior to the Police search and the date he returned to Bermuda. He put it to him that he had given contradictory accounts.

?I?m not good with dates. What?s the date today?? responded the defendant.

Asked by Mr. Mahoney whether he smoked a lot of cannabis, Lambert replied: ?I?m not a chain smoker. It?s too expensive in Bermuda. I might smoke one (cannabis cigarette) a day. I might smoke two a day if things are good.?

He said he had no idea there was cannabis in buckets in his cellar before the Police found the drug there during their search of his house. He denied Mr. Mahoney?s assertion that he used the saw to cut up large quantities of cannabis in his residence and also refuted suggestions that he was telling lies in the witness box.

The case continues.