Crown lawyers argued at the Court of Appeal yesterday that the case against two men convicted of robbing the Bank of Bermuda was "strong and overwhelming''.

Michael Eugene Dillas and Rupert Elroy Archibald are appealing to have their convictions overturned or sentences reduced.

Dillas, 33, was jailed for 18 years and Archibald, 38, for 30 years for the robbery in Somerset in April 1997 which netted $37,500. Both entered a plea of alibi, saying they were smoking marijuana at Riddell's Bay Golf Course at the time of the robbery.

They said they hid in the bushes where they were caught by Police because they heard the sirens and were afraid of being caught smoking marijuana.

Yusef Ameerbakka DeSilva, who pleaded guilty and testified against the others, was jailed for 18 years. A fourth man named in the trial as Travis Dill was reported last year to be abroad and the subject of extradition proceedings.

Urging the court to uphold the convictions against Dillas and Archibald, Senior Crown counsel Brian Calhoun said: "This is a very strong and overwhelming case.'' On Monday, barristers Philip Perinchief for Archibald, and Julian Hall for Dillas, argued that their clients suffered a miscarriage of justice. Mr.

Perinchief said the indictment was flawed because it included DeSilva even though he pleaded guilty.

He said DeSilva made prejudicial references to Archibald's previous criminal convictions and that he had inducements to embellish his evidence because he wanted a lesser sentence.

Mr. Hall said although Dillas, who according to DeSilva looked after the gang's motorbikes outside the bank while the heist was taking place, was convicted of armed robbery, there was no evidence he knew they had weapons or that they would be used.

Yesterday, he said the trial judge Chief Justice Austin Ward in his summing up to the jury did not address whether Dillas had knowledge about the weapons and what his intention was regarding the crime.

Mr. Calhoun said the references to Archibald's previous convictions and his brushes with the law came after DeSilva was cross-examined by the defence during the trial, and in any case, Mr. Justice Ward gave the jury "an abundance of caution'' about prejudicial evidence.

He said it was part of Archibald's defence to say he hid in the bushes when he heard Police sirens because he had been in trouble with Police before.

He noted that at the trial, there had been no application to sever DeSilva from the indictment.

Mr. Calhoun said: "This is a very strong and overwhelming case. There is the evidence of DeSilva who is an eyewitness and an accomplice and you can't get much better than that. There is also further evidence to establish the guilt of Archibald.'' He said Police were in "hot pursuit'' of the robbers in a boat as they fled towards Jew's Bay before jumping off at Riddell's Bay.

"Police found them (Archibald and Dillas) minutes later in a clump of bushes...on the exact escape route of the robbers.

"All the paraphernalia of the robbery was found within feet of the accused.

Because the Police were in hot pursuit, they were there at the proximate time the robbers would have been there.'' The appeal before Sir James Astwood, sitting with Sir Derek Cons and Philip Clough, continues today.