trafficking ring walked out of Supreme Court a free man yesterday.

Larry Ebbin, 35, was acquitted of importing and conspiring to import cocaine to Bermuda between October 1988 and May 1990 with others not before the court.

After the forewoman of the jury delivered the verdict, which she revealed was the opinion of a "majority'', Puisne Judge the Hon. Mrs. Justice Wade told Ebbin: "You're free to go.'' A relieved-looking Ebbin beamed as he walked out of the court room and was greeted with cheers and handshakes from several friends.

"I'm just glad it's all over,'' he told reporters. "I can now get on with my life.'' Ebbin said the verdict -- reached in just over an hour -- had not surprised him because there had been little evidence against him.

Standing at his client's side, defence lawyer Mr. Archie Warner said: "He's been through a lot knowing all along he wasn't guilty.'' Taking the opportunity to raise concerns over controversial allegations raised during the month-long trial, Mr. Warner said: "Some very serious, unfounded allegations were bantered about during this trial about members of my profession. They were very unfair.'' Mr. Warner charged the rumours were "perpetuated by Police''.

He was referring to allegations that a local lawyer and "Bermuda officials'' were involved in the conspiracy.

Narcotics Det. Sgt. Alex Arnfield had testified the officials' link with the vast drug ring had aroused the interest of the US Drug Enforcement Agency.

Neither the names of the alleged officials nor the lawyer's identity were revealed during the trial. But Det. Sgt. Arnfield testified the Cuban's "man in Bermuda'' Antonio Miranda told Police he was lawyer and Opposition MP Mr.

Julian Hall's "business partner'' after his apartment was raided and large amounts of cocaine and cash were found.

Turning to allegations the defence had raised about Police wrongdoings in the case, Mr. Warner said he was concerned they were being ignored.

Mr. Warner warned that unless Police looked into the allegations, the public might start thinking there was a "cover up''.

The more serious of the allegations was that Police carried typewriters in their cars and simply filled in already-signed and blank search warrants when needed.

It was Mr. Warner's case that Ebbin was nothing more than a "petty peddler'' in the conspiracy. The lawyer had conceded Ebbin had sold about five $125 bags of cocaine for his roommate Dexter Dillas, now serving 18 years for his part in the Cuban drug ring.

But Crown counsel Mr. Diarmuid Doorly claimed Ebbin bought some six kilos of cocaine -- at a wholesale price of about $60,000 a kilo -- from Miranda.

Jurors heard the Miami-based drug ring operated into the Island for a decade before being cracked.

Mr. Warner, in his final address, conceded large amounts of cocaine had been shipped into Bermuda by the Cubans, but warned jurors not to find his client guilty by association.

He reminded the jury of his client's testimony that he had been "stunned'' when he found out Dillas, with whom he had lived with for two years, was a cocaine dealer.

And Dillas, backing up Ebbin's testimony, told jurors his old roommate knew nothing of his dealings and that he had kept them secret from him.

Ebbin, along with Dillas, Bermuda Stroller Ted Ming and Colin Smith, had pleaded not guilty in their first trial in 1990.

They were all found guilty, but the Court of Appeal later acquitted Ming and Smith and ordered retrials for Ebbin and Dillas.

Dillas pleaded guilty in his retrial last October after learning a cellmate had secretly taped him boasting about his and others' cocaine dealings with the Cuban drug empire.

FREE TO GO -- A jubilant Larry Ebbin is seen after being acquitted of charges of cocaine smuggling. Jurors took barely an hour to find him not guilty.