One of five men accused of conspiring to import cannabis to Bermuda was acquitted yesterday, after the Crown offered no further evidence against him.

Anthony Stanley Martin, 42, from Jamaica, was found not guilty by the foreman of the jury on the direction of Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons.

He had been jointly charged along with George Leonard Lambert, 53, Gladwyn Sherwyn Simmons, 54, Ricardo Michael Tucker, 31, and Tristan La-Van Codrington, 30, with the conspiracy offence.

Calling the jury back after a break of more than a fortnight for legal arguments, Mrs. Justice Simmons sent it straight out again after directing the acquittal. She explained this was because Tucker's lawyer, Shade Subair, was unable to attend court, plus one of the jury members had to go to a family funeral.

The prosecution case is that a yacht named Regulus picked up what Crown counsel Carrington Mahoney has described as "the cargo" somewhere in the vicinity of Haiti during a trip from Florida to Bermuda. Mr. Mahoney has told the jury that Police boarded the yacht on March 11 2004, and found a 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."

Lambert, Simmons, Tucker, and Codrington, all of Sandys Parish, 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 is set to resume today.