A man was cleared yesterday of importing ammunition to Bermuda without a licence, after a jury decided he brought in live bullets without realising.

Dion Bassett, 28, denied throughout his trial that he had known the bullets ? contained in a shipment of posters from Florida ? were real.

Customs officer Heather Hollis gave evidence that the posters included images of rapper Tupac Shakur and actor Al Pacino. The shipment in October 2004 also contained a black plastic firearm, imitation US currency and a cigar.

Officials became suspicious of the packages because Bassett was listed, unusually, as both shipper and consignee. After discovering the contents during a search at Hamilton Docks, they called the Police.

Bassett, of Cambridge Road, Somerset, told Police he thought the bullets, bought in a shop in Miami, were fake.

Supreme Court heard from P.c. John Kirkpatrick, a Police firearms officer, who said he received 18 brown paper bags for testing during the investigation. During the trial, which began on October 4, Bassett told the jury he had visited a friend in Miami in 2004 and during that trip decided to buy 24 posters from the Bamboo Cigars of Miami Beach shop with the intention of shipping them to Bermuda and re-selling them.

When he arrived to collect his shipment at the docks in Bermuda, a number of Police cars appeared and he was approached by officers, who arrested him under the Firearms Act.

"I can't remember word for word what was said but I was upset. I felt sure it was a mistake and that they were making something out of nothing," Bassett told the court.

"Then they took me to Prospect and into a room. A few of the boxes were open and a few were broken. That's when they told me it was live ammunition. I said 'Is any of this stuff real? If it is I can take you to the place where I bought it in Miami.'"

He told the court he believed the guns, money and bullets within the poster display cases were fakes.

"To cover myself I asked the guy in the shop if everything was fake, he said 'yes,'" said Bassett.

The jury was out for just under an hour yesterday afternoon before delivering an unanimous verdict of not guilty to one charge of importation of ammunition.

Bassett nodded his head as the verdict was delivered, but showed no visible emotion. He left court without comment.

Speaking after the case, Collector of Customs Winniefred Fostine-DeSilva said the Customs Department had an obligation to detect and seize any illegal goods. Ammunition cannot be imported without a permit from the Commissioner of Police.