never saw a package containing $100,000 worth of cannabis before Customs officials showed it to him.

Andre Place, 27, of North Cliff Lane, Devonshire, has pleaded not guilty to handling drugs with intent to supply.

Customs officials said two kilograms of cannabis were found in Place's car on September 21 during a search of all vehicles leaving the airport airmail facility.

A canvas United Parcel Service bag with a plastic wrapped package was found under the dashboard of the passenger side of Place's car when he was leaving the area at 3 p.m. that day.

But Place yesterday said he had never seen the package before.

He also denied begging Customs officer Ms Romell Woolridge not to tell anyone it was there, as Woolridge had earlier testified.

Under cross-examination by Crown Counsel Mr. Peter DeJulio, Place said he did not think Woolridge "was out to get him''. But he said she was either mistaken or lying.

Senior Customs officer Mr. Laurence Brangman told the court a piece of cardboard wrapping fitting the package's shape was later found in the air mail facility bathroom.

Mr. DeJulio said Place's seven years of experience at the facility made it possible for him to sneak something out of the mail room without arousing suspicion among Customs officers and supervisors.

Mr. DeJulio also suggested that Place could have easily smuggled the drugs out of the mailroom in a black duffel gym bag also found in the car.

He speculated that when Place took an earlier lunch that day he carried the cannabis from the mail room in the black duffel bag.

"Then you removed the cardboard from the package and went back and put it in the restroom,'' Mr. DeJulio told Place.

But Place denied this. He claimed that the black duffel bag was for athletic equipment, such as a towel and a heart monitor for training.

When questioned by his lawyer, Mr. Delroy Duncan, Place said he left his car open with the keys in the ignition.

"I usually leave the keys in the car because it is supposed to be a high security area,'' he explained.

"I am friends with everybody I work with. Sometimes they go into my car to listen to music, read the newspaper and just relax.'' Place also noted that the air mail facility did not deal with UPS packages.

And he said he could not predict when certain pieces of mail would arrive.

He added that he could have avoided going through the Customs inspection, by going through a closer exit gate, but he did not.