export over $15,000 in foreign currency.

Lewis Foggo, 32, of Aunt Peggy's Lane, is accused of trying to export $15,930 on December 15, 1993, after a plain-clothed Police officer searched him at the Airport and found a manila envelope containing the money inside his bag.

Foggo said he found the envelope while in the departure lounge and was planning to turn it in to Police officers at the exit gate.

Crown Counsel Mr. Melvyn Douglas asked Foggo why he did not let the Police know about the money when he was stopped. Foggo said he was never given the chance.

In closing arguments, Foggo's lawyer Mr. Archibald Warner said that the prosecution had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that his client intended to take the money out of the Island.

But Mr. Douglas said Police should not have had to wait for Foggo to board the plane before they stopped him and argued that Foggo had an opportunity to turn the money over when he was initially stopped.

Magistrate the Wor. Edward King adjourned the trial until December 15 when he will announce the verdict -- two years after the crime is alleged to have taken place.

MAN BARGAINS OVER DRUG FINE CTS Man bargains over drug fine Magistrates' Court took on the air of a Turkish bazaar yesterday as an American honeymooner who pleaded guilty to drug possession successfully bargained with the judge over the amount of his fine.

Stephen D. Paine, a 31-year-old salesman from Hollywood, California, was originally slapped with a $650 penalty after he was caught at the Airport last Friday with 4.7 grams of cannabis in his underpants and two packages of cigarette papers for the purpose of misusing drugs.

When the defendant, however, pulled out a wad of travellers' cheques and contended that he only had $600 on his person, Magistrate the Wor. Edward King went into auctioneer mode.

"All right -- change that,'' he said to the court clerk. "We'll take what he has. We have the right to bargain.'' STUN GUN FOUND HIDDEN IN SHOE CTS Stun gun found hidden in shoe A 24-year-old Southampton man was fined $500 yesterday for importing a "Shocker'' stun gun.

The prohibited American-made weapon, which can incapacitate a person by discharging a bolt of electricity, was found during an October 4 search by Airport Customs officials in a shoe at the bottom of a duffel bag belonging to Mtume Hart.

Hart, who claimed that he "wasn't sure'' if stun guns were illegal in Bermuda, had just got off a plane from the United States, where he said he purchased the weapon.

"He only suspected that the stun gun might be illegal,'' Hart's lawyer, Mr.

Phil Perinchief, argued before Magistrate the Wor. Edward King. "It was a case of a young man taking a chance.'' In imposing the $500 fine, Mr. King also ordered that the stun gun be destroyed.

PAINTER FINED FOR CHEQUE FRAUD CTS Painter fined for cheque fraud A 47-year-old Pembroke man was slapped with a $600 fine for illegally obtaining another person's cheque and using it to buy food and alcohol.

A self-employed painter, Willis M. Dill had reportedly acquired a couple's Bank of Bermuda cheque between June 13 and 16, passed it off as his own and purchased various food and drink items with it.

Yesterday, he was fined $200 by Magistrate the Wor. Edward King on each of three counts: illegally doctoring the couple's cheque, uttering a false document to induce someone to accept it as genuine and accepting the stolen merchandise.

Represented by Miss Victoria Pearman, Dill told the court that he had already repaid the merchant from whom he obtained the food.

He also explained to Mr. King that he had been drinking during the period in which the crimes were committed.