jury returned a majority not guilty verdict to the charge he possessed $11.9 million worth of cannabis with intent to supply.

"I'm glad it's behind me,'' he said before moving on to shake the hand of Crown counsel Charlene Scott. She returned the gesture and said: "You better be good.'' The jury went out at 11 a.m. but came back to the court at 2.28 p.m.

requesting the legal definition of simple possession. Puisne Judge Richard Ground obliged.

Less than half an hour later, at 2.52 p.m., the panel returned with their majority verdict to acquit.

The verdict brought an end to the week-long trial. Pond, 29, of Friswell's Hill, Pembroke was charged with one count of possessing 527 pounds of cannabis with intent to supply on March 22, 1994.

Last year he was acquitted of importing the drugs which were concealed in 15 boxes of fruit juice and syrup. The shipment was consigned to jeweller Astwood Dickinson and Karen Tuzo.

The seminal question for the panel was whether Pond knew that the boxes he was picking up, as a favour to Orien Tuzo, contained cannabis.

His defence team of lawyers, Tim Marshall and Kim Wilson, argued that Pond's actions were the determining factor.

They said that Pond watched the customs officer examine the boxes and came back to the airport later that day after all the boxes had been looked at.

Pond's lawyers said he cooperated with Police after he was arrested and Mel Lewis, who drove the truck to the airport to pick up the boxes, also did not try to hide that he had arrived with Pond.

These actions, they argued, underscored that Pond believed that the boxes contained fruit juice and not drugs.

Ms Scott, for the Crown, urged the jury to accept that Pond knew that drugs were contained in the shipment and she pointed out that he lied on at least three occasions which cast questions on his credibility.

During the trial, Pond admitted that he lied when he initially told Police that Lewis, the truck driver, was the one who had the paperwork needed to clear the boxes through customs.

During a second Police interview, Pond admitted that Lewis was not the one with the documents because Orien Tuzo had given them to him on the morning of March 22, 1994.