A Supreme Court trial of three men accused of a guns and drugs conspiracy lost one of its 12 jurors yesterday, for unspecified reasons.

Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves discharged the woman from serving further after discussions with lawyers yesterday morning, the second day of the case.

When the rest of the panel returned, he told them: "You may notice that at first there was 12 of you, now there are 11 of you. You are not to speculate as to why."

Pembroke residents Justin Calderon and Kershun Dublin, both 25, and Arthur Dill, 45, are accused of conspiring to possess four handguns and ammunition that were found in a courier box at the airport last April 28. They are further accused of conspiring to import $25,000-worth of cannabis, which was found in the same package. The men deny the charges.

The court heard from prosecutor Robert Welling on Tuesday that the contraband was stashed inside an orange tool box, which came into Bermuda as air freight in a DHL parcel service box. It was addressed to a Terry Stevens at a Smith's address but Mr. Stevens had never ordered the parcel.

Mr. Welling told the court that each of the three men became involved in the possession of the box after it was picked up from DHL on May 8 last year.

He said the box was dropped by car in Crane Lane, Pembroke, and ended up being "spirited away" to a shed near Calderon's home in Mission Lane. He alleged that it was handled at this point by three or four men including Calderon and Dublin, whose palm prints were later found on the box.

Dill, of Orchard Grove, Pembroke, was detained in nearby Footpath Lane, and Calderon in Crane Lane.

On Tuesday, the jury heard a taped Police interview conducted with Dill the day after his arrest. In it, he told detectives that a person named Kershun who goes by the nickname Smalls offered him $20 for a "hustle" to pick up the parcel from DHL and loaned him a motorcycle to do so. Dill said he had no idea what was really in the toolbox, which he assumed contained tools.

Further tapes of Police interviews with Dill were played to the court yesterday morning. In them, the accused admitted handing over "$100 and some" given to him by Smalls to pay for the parcel at DHL.

He also admitted signing for it with the name Terry Stevens, telling detectives that a woman at the parcel office told him to write that because it was listed on the box.

Detective Constable Walter Jackson of the narcotics unit told the jury that Dublin was arrested at an address in St. Monica's Road, Pembroke, on Sunday July 17 last year.

The trial hit another glitch later in the morning, when one of the lawyers was called away from court on account of what the judge described as an "unanticipated event" unrelated to the case. The case was adjourned as a result, and is due to resume this morning.