The route to Bermuda taken by a yacht allegedly used in a conspiracy to import cannabis was the subject of evidence from an expert witness at Supreme Court yesterday.

Nautical specialist John McPartland was called by prosecutors who allege that the sailboat was part of a plot involving defendants George Leonard Lambert, 53, Gladwyn Sherwyn Simmons, 54, and Ricardo Michael Tucker, 31.

Crown counsel Carrington Mahoney has previously told the court that the yacht left Florida around February 13, 2004, stopped to refuel in South Caicos, and subsequently picked up ?the cargo? in the northern area of Haiti. The Crown further alleges that then ?sneaked? into Bermuda, taking advantage of a tracking system being out of service due to Hurricane Fabian.

Previous prosecution witnesses from the US Coast Guard and the Turks and Caicos Islands immigration service have described the yacht taking an ?unusual? route to Bermuda, passing to the north of Haiti rather than through the Florida Straight between Florida and the Bahamas.

Mr. McPartland ? senior nautical surveyor at the Department of Maritime Administration ? said he spent 32 years at sea as a navigating officer. In response to questions from Crown counsel Wayne Caines, he illustrated with the use of the map two routes from Tampa to Bermuda.

The first would take a vessel through the Florida Straight and NorthWest Providence Channel on a 1,090-mile journey to Bermuda, he said, describing this in ?layman?s terms? as a ?more direct and shorter? route. He told the court the winds would generally be favourable to a vessel sailing this route.

He then described a different 1,400-mile route through the Old Bahamas Channel and via the north coast of Cuba and Grand Turk to Bermuda. He said that the current would usually be against a vessel when sailing this route to Grand Turk, which would slow it.

Earlier in yesterday?s proceedings, the jury heard from Craig Tyrrell, personnel services manager at the Department of Immigration. He said that on March 31 this year he was called upon by the Police to identify a passport belonging to Tucker, issued by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Kingston, Jamaica, in March 2004.

Further evidence for the Crown came from Heather Gillis, a billing consultant for M3 Wireless Cellular One. She answered questions regarding cell phone calls made between a phone billed to Simmons and one billed to a customer named Kyesha Simmons.

Lambert, Simmons and Tucker deny conspiring together with others to import cannabis. 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.