Lawyers defending five men accused of conspiring to import cannabis to Bermuda yesterday grilled Police officers about a raid on a boat allegedly used in the plot.

According to the prosecution, Police found a piece of Duct Tape with cannabis residue on it on the yacht Crown counsel Carrington Mahoney has told the jury pieces of ?similar? tape were found at defendant George Leonard Lambert?s home.

Lambert, 53, Gladwyn Sherwyn Simmons, 54, Ricardo Michael Tucker, 31, Tristan La-Van Codrington, 30, and Anthony Stanley Martin, 42, are accused of the conspiracy. Mr. Mahoney has told Supreme Court that Simmons went to Florida to purchase the and then flew Codrington and Tucker to Tampa, Florida, to pilot it back to Bermuda. It is alleged that the yacht left Tampa around February 13, 2004, and at some point on the trip back to Bermuda, picked up Lambert and what Mr. Mahoney described as ?the cargo? somewhere in the northern area of Haiti.

It is further alleged that subsequently sneaked into Bermuda, taking advantage of a broken tracking system. Mr. Mahoney has said that Police boarded the yacht on March 11, finding the piece of Duct Tape with cannabis residue on it. He said that ?similar? tape was found at Lambert?s home on March 13, along with plastic buckets and an electric saw with cannabis residue on them and a large amount of ?cannabis sawdust.?

Detective Constable Brian Paul of the joint Police and Customs combined enforcement team gave evidence for the prosecution about his role during the raid on He described how Police, Customs officers and a Police dog were involved and that Tucker and Codrington had been present. He said that the pair said they had travelled from Florida and had not collected anyone or dropped anyone off along their route. They said there were no drugs on board the vessel.

A Police officer and dog searched the said Det. Con. Paul, followed by Customs officers. Then, Detective Constable Christopher Binns stepped onto the vessel and picked up a small piece of Duct Tape. When questioned, the two defendants said they could tell him nothing about it. Next, Det. Con. Paul and Det. Con. Binns disembarked and returned a few minutes later, placing the tape into a brown paper bag, labelling it and keeping it. In answer to a question from Crown counsel Wayne Caines, Det. Con. Paul said he did not believe that the area where the Duct Tape was found had already been searched.

In answer to defence lawyer Elizabeth Christopher, defending Lambert, he said that the tape was found on the left side of the boat, which was the side everyone had boarded. He said he was not aware of any steps taken to avoid contaminating the boat.

Ms Christopher put it to him: ?Is it your evidence that Binns is supposed to have located this Duct Tape within seconds if not a minute of having boarded this vessel?? He answered that this was correct.

Ms Christopher added: ?But that would be almost one and a half hours after various Police and Customs personnel had been walking over the boat?? The witness said this was correct.

Shade Subair, counsel for Tucker, put it to him that he was not with Det. Con. Binns when he took possession of the tape. He said this was incorrect.

Det. Con. Binns, from the same team as Det. Con. Paul, also gave evidence about finding the tape. In answer to questions from Ms Christopher, he said he was not aware of any steps taken by those boarding the boat to prevent contamination. He said the Duct Tape tested negative for fingerprints.

Lambert, Simmons, Tucker and Codrington, all of Sandys Parish and Martin, of Jamaica, all deny conspiring together with others to import cannabis between February 1, 2004 and March 11, 2004. Lambert denies separate charges of possessing cannabis with intent to supply and possessing equipment for the preparation of a controlled drug.

He has pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis and possessing equipment for preparing a controlled drug.

The case continues.