A Briton charged with importing nearly $500,000 worth of heroin into the Island claimed he was given a package by a close family friend before flying to the Island.

Martin Cashman, 50, is charged with possession of diamorphine ? otherwise known as heroin ? with intent to supply. The drugs were found hidden inside 16 laminated pictures Cashman was carrying when he arrived on a British Airways flight from London on October 5.

A statement given to Police the day after Cashman?s arrest was read out in Supreme Court yesterday by the interviewing officer, Detective Sergeant Hayden Small.

In his statement, Cahsman claimed that he received a telephone call from family friend Norman Fraser asking if he wanted to join him in Bermuda for the Jazz Festival. Cashman said he was broke and would be unable to go.

But he said Mr. Fraser later called back and told him he had a ticket and that all he needed was some spending money.

Cashman explained that on the morning of the flight, Mr. Fraser ? a friend for 20 years who was once engaged to his sister ? arrived at his home to say he had an emergency and would be unable travel. He then asked Cashman to take an envelope full of souvenir pictures to give to a friend.

When questioned about the package, Cashman told Police he was more worried about the padded envelope, adding:?I just wanted to make sure everything was above board.? Cashman explained in his statement that he was to stay with a family that would pick him up at Brightside Guest Apartments but he did not know who they were.

And he later agreed to be part of a sting operation. ?I feel betrayed and used by someone I thought was a friend,? he said in his statement.

During the attempted sting operation, Cashman made contact with a man named ?Bobby? whose name and number had been given to him by Mr. Fraser.

Det. Sgt. Small, who headed the investigation team, said he called off the operation after they were unable to get ?Bobby? to come to the guest apartment to pick up the package.

Two men, Keniel Ingham and Leonard Swan, have been arrested in connection to the incident, he told the court.

Crown counsel Vinette Graham-Allen asked if anything had come about the investigation into Norman Fraser. Det. Sgt. Small replied that UK officers had told him that Mr. Fraser was ?not within any English jurisdiction?.

Yesterday the court also heard testimony from narcotics officer Detective Sergeant Christopher Randall Clarke who said that a total of 498.31 grams of heroin laced with diazepam, commonly known as Valium, were transported in the 16 pictures. Det. Sgt. Clarke said the heroin would yield $484, 200 on the street.

After identifying the weight and percentage of each package, Government analyst Christine Quigley said the percentage of diamorphine was ?low for what we normally see?.

Defence lawyer Richard Horseman asked Det. Sgt. Clarke whether the drug appeared to have been a ?decoy? to allow for a larger, purer quantity to pass through undetected.

?A varying percentage comes into the Island, I can?t say why or how.?

He added that it was the first time he had come across heroin mixed with the diazepam used as a cutting agent.