A man accused of a guns-and-drugs plot told a jury that he participated with two co-defendants in moving a courier box at the centre of the allegations but claimed he was unaware of any criminal scheme.

The package contained a toolbox, in which was stashed four handguns, 164 bullets and $25,000-worth of cannabis. It was flown in to Bermuda, via DHL, having been purchased and mailed from Florida. However, it was intercepted by Police and Customs officers who were alerted by a sniffer dog after it arrived at the airport on April 28 last year.

The Police took the contraband out of the package and resealed it, putting it back into circulation at DHL. Prosecutors allege that Kershun Dublin and Justin Calderon, both 25, and Arthur Dill, 45, were involved in handling the box from the point it was picked up from DHL on May 8 2008.

Although the Police lost track of the box after it was picked up from DHL, they later found it in a shed at Calderon's home, minus the outer cardboard wrapping and covered in a sheet.

It's alleged that the three men were involved in a criminal conspiracy together, and with others not before the courts, to import the cannabis into Bermuda and possess the firearms and bullets. They are said to have been involved in the plot between "a date unknown' and May 9 last year.

The trio, who are all from Pembroke, deny the charges.

The case for the defence opened yesterday with Kershun Dublin taking to the witness box at Supreme Court to protest his innocence. He told the jury he knew Dill because Dill had washed his car and bike before. On May 8 2008, Dublin said that he was using a bike borrowed from a friend named Malik, AKA "Chippy." He explained that Dill told him "Chippy" would let him borrow the bike too to go and get some breakfast and pick up a toolbox.

He let Dill go off on the bike, and then headed off to Mills Creek in Pembroke to apply for a job. Dublin said he called his friend Tianna Paiva later to get a ride home, and she picked him up in her car from the vicinity of the Belco office in Serpentine Road.

Dublin said he spotted Dill with the borrowed bike, standing next to a toolbox, near the DHL office in Serpentine Road. He said Dill was unable to get the toolbox on the bike, so he offered to help him move it in Ms Paiva's car.

He explained that Dill told him to "hurry up" and that he would meet him at his friend Treddy's house on Crane Lane in Pembroke. However, Dublin said that Treddy was not home when they arrived in the car, and he felt he could not just leave the box in the yard.

Dublin said he saw his friend Justin Calderon at this point, and asked him if he could store the box at his house, and give him a hand to carry it.

His and Calderon's handprints were later found by investigators underneath where the cardboard wrapping had been. Dublin told the jury the packaging must have ripped off as they were taking the box out of the car. He explained that they stored it in Calderon's shed in neighbouring Mission Lane choosing that location so Calderon's mother wouldn't ask questions about it.

Dublin said that as he walked up the hill to look for Arthur Dill, someone told him Dill – whose nickname is Vello – had been arrested, and he thought this might be because the toolbox was stolen.

Dublin was arrested at his grandmother's home on July 15, claiming that two Police officers hit him in the face during the course of the arrest, giving him a "busted ear". One of the Police officers involved in the arrest told the court earlier in the trial that Dublin had admitted throwing the box "over the speed bumps hill by Treddy's house" when transporting it. He denied that he'd said that.

The jury has heard that the landline telephone at Calderon's home was used to place a call to DHL the morning after the box arrived on the Island last year. It was suggested to Dublin yesterday by Calderon's lawyer, John Perry QC, that he spent a lot of time at Calderon's house and he was the one who made the call.

However, Dublin denied that he'd ever been inside Calderon's home, and denied using the telephone to call DHL.

Mr. Perry alleged: "You see, the reality of this case, Mr. Dublin, is that you've roped in Dublin and Mr. Dill. That's what happened, isn't it?"

Dublin denied that was true. The case continues.