prison dock in Supreme Court yesterday after he was acquitted of importing and possessing more than $500,000 worth of heroin.

With relief written all over his face, Osborne walked from the court clutching some personal papers.

He will be remanded in custody until he is handed over to the immigration authorities.

"The jury have spoken,'' his lawyer Archie Warner told The Royal Gazette afterward. "They accepted his reasons and there was no evidence from the Police to contradict what he said.

"He spoke the truth.'' Osborne, 29, of Accra, Ghana, denied importing and possessing 328.5 grams of diamorphine (heroin) with a street value of $593,750 between September 17 and 21 last year.

During the week long trial a tearful Osborne recounted how a weekend trip to Bermuda last September turned into a five-day ordeal.

Osborne claimed his boss gave him a ticket to Amsterdam and spending money to buy electrical goods from a Holland company.

But en route, "Kunnedy'' a man he met at the airport, persuaded him to deliver 50 gold-filled pellets to an American contact in Bermuda in exchange for $1,000.

However, his plans for a brief stopover in Bermuda went awry when he was unable to make contact with either "Kunnedy'' or a Texas man named "Tony'' who he had been told would join him in Bermuda.

Later that day he called the Texas number and a man told him Bermuda Police had stopped "Tony'' at the Civil Air Terminal.

Scheduled to catch a British Airways flight to London that night, Osborne claimed he missed the flight because he had no money for a taxi.

An hour later, Police arrived at his hotel room at Paraquet Guest Cottages with a search warrant. Osborne was arrested and handcuffed after Police discovered the pellets in a plastic bag inside his briefcase.

The jury took one hour and 40 minutes to return their majority not guilty verdicts to the charges.

"What you did in Accra, was a stupid thing even on your own admission,'' Puisne Judge the Hon. Mr. Justice Ground said.

"I will make an order that you be kept in custody and then handed over to the immigration authorities.'' An elated Osborne turned and waved to several female jurors seated on the left hand side of the panel. They waved back smiling.

SERIOUS `ACCIDENT' LAST NIGHT AC `Serious' accident last night A motorcyclist was seriously injured last night in an accident on East Broadway near Crow Lane Bakery, Police said.

The accident happened at about 9.25 p.m., Police said.

Few details were available at Press time, but a Police spokesman said: "We're treating it as a very serious accident.'' Another accident, a hit and run, happened in the same area at about the same time, the spokesman said.

It involved a van and another vehicle, and it was not clear at Press time whether the two accidents were connected.