A car-washer was found guilty yesterday of picking up a package of almost $60,000 worth of cannabis hidden in Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee beans.

Kevin Wayne Smith, 47, of Union Street, Pembroke was found guilty of possessing 1,195 grams of cannabis with intent to supply on May 28, 2003.

Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves remanded Smith until the March 1 arraignments session when a sentencing date will be set.

A seven-woman, five-man jury found him guilty by a majority verdict in three hours.

Last week, Supreme Court heard the cannabis was discovered in a Federal Express package sent from Negril District, Jamaica to the pseudonym of Sadie Furtardo, Paget, Bermuda.

Smith never denied picking up the package from a Federal Express office on Serpentine Road on May 28, but did deny knowing the package held drugs.

Police intercepted the package on May 23 and launched a sting operation, which involved Smith dropping the package off to a second unidentified man, who is currently at large.

On Monday, Crown counsel Shakira Dill recounted how Smith testified he only thought he had done something illegal after he was swooped upon by Police as he left Federal Express.

?But that can?t be true,? she said. ?He asked the man if there were any drugs in there before that.?

Defence lawyer Rick Woolridge countered there was no evidence Smith knew the package hid drugs.

?I ask you to believe the defendant when he said he saw the officers and knew it had to be illegal,? Mr. Woolridge said. ?If you walk in a room and see his Lordship and I in dresses and a wig, there must be a trial going on.?

And Mr. Woolridge said because Smith called the cannabis ?highbred weed? when he was shown it at Police Headquarters did not mean he was involved.

?The aroma fills the air. It must be potent stuff. It did not mean he knew anything about it,? he said. ?He saw and smelled it for himself.?

Ms Dill said Smith knew it was ?highbred weed? before he even picked up the package.

She said he was paid for his ?pick-up? role even if it was $30 to $50. Ms Dill closed the Prosecution?s case by saying the second man was a red herring.

?Remember the accused is in court today,? Ms Dill said.

Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves said the fact the ?big fish? got away should not stop the jury from finding Smith guilty.

?You may think, they got the small fish and the big fish escaped ? since he escaped, let this one escape. This would be a sympathy extraneous to this case,? Mr. Justice Greaves said. ?You ought not to speculate as to why he escaped and you must not conclude because he escaped that this accused man must also be guilty.?

Only if they were sure Smith knew the package hid drugs, suspected it, or had reason to suspect it ? could they find him guilty of it, Mr. Justice Greaves ordered.

The judge also took the jury through Police statements from 2003, starting with Smith?s remark: ?Honestly, I thought it had to be something illegal.?

When asked by Police what he meant by that, Smith replied: I heard stories about passports and things moving around from time to time. A lot of illegal people are here and need passports to get out.?

But Mr. Justice Greaves said Smith testified the second man told him the package held T-shirts and photos from his baby?s mother and questioned why he would tell Police about passports in 2003.

But the defence said Smith had no idea the package hid drugs.

?He had no reason to suspect because he believed the man and asked the man if the package had any drugs who denied it,? Mr. Woolridge said.

Mr. Woolridge ordered a pre-sentencing social inquiry report.