The manager of the Federal Express parcel service told a jury how he alerted Police to suspicious packages in a Christmas delivery, which turned out to contain $300,000 worth of cocaine.

Christopher Heslop was giving evidence to the trial of two men accused of conspiring to import the drugs sometime prior to December 23 2004 — Andre Phillip Hill, 53, and Raynol Shane Todd, 51.

The pair denies the charge, with Hill having also pleaded not guilty to an additional allegation of handling the drugs with intent to supply them.

Opening the case on Wednesday, Principal Crown counsel Michael McColm told the jury the drugs were found in three boxes which arrived in Bermuda on December 23, 2004.

He alleged that the following day, Hill went to the Federal Express office in Serpentine Road, Pembroke to collect the boxes — but a Customs Officer had already discovered drugs inside them, and Police arrested Hill as he left the office.

He allegedly told the officers that the packages were for Todd, who was waiting in the nearby Belco parking lot. Police found him there in a car and arrested him.

Giving his account of events that day, Mr. Heslop in Supreme Court yesterday said two customer service agents, Deborah DeSousa and Kelly Tweed, approached him with suspicions regarding a three-package shipment that had come from Trinidad and which someone had come to the counter to pick up.

Mr. Heslop said the packages were on a trolley, and he noticed one had US Customs and Bermuda Customs tape on it.

With Ms DeSousa, he took the trolley to the Bermuda Customs office, a separate facility within the FedEx building, and took one of the packages to the duty officer, Carla Burgess. She cut it open.

"We saw a black vinyl plastic package. At that point I left the Bermuda Customs office and called the Bermuda Police narcotics office," explained Mr. Heslop.

He described witnessing Customs Officer Burgess taping the package with clear tape and putting it back on the trolley.

Having received a subsequent phone call from a narcotics officer, said Mr. Heslop, he took the trolley back to the front counter area and told Ms DeSousa she could deliver the package.

"At that point I'm not aware of what happened, but I know the package was delivered," he added.

The case continues.