A jury heard how a firearm and drugs were discovered near a St George’s garage as the trial of two men accused of smuggling continued.

Pc Shandora Burrows told the court that on December 2, 2023, she was a part of a police search of a garage located on Wellington Slip Road.

At about 3.15pm that day, she said noticed a black bucket near the tree line of the property. Looking inside the bucket, she saw a firearm wrapped in blue paper within a heat-sealed bag.

She told the court: “I looked further into the bucket and saw other items in heat-sealed bags.”

Ms Burrows told the court that at about 3.57pm that day, she received a message from Jonathan McAlpine-Talbot, who was a police sergeant at the time who she knew.

In the subsequent conversation, Ms Burrows said Mr McAlpine-Talbot asked her if she was on the search team.

After the search concluded, she told the court she went back to the Police Support Unit officer, where she was congratulated on the find. She said that she unexpectedly saw Mr McAlpine-Talbot there, dressed in civilian clothing.

She said that later that day they had a phone conversation, and while she could not recall the specifics, she said they discussed the execution of the warrant.

Ms Burrows also said she sent a voice note in which she said she was going to tell him about her find, but she wanted to be sure first that she was allowed to share that information.

Mr McAlpine-Talbot later asked her in text: “What else you got?”

She responded “lots of shatter”, referring to a cannabis product.

Ms Burrows also told the court that at the time of the conversation, she was unaware that an investigation had been launched into Mr McAlpine-Talbot.

Mr McAlpine-Talbot and Ezekiel Swan have denied allegations that they conspired with others to import and supply firearms and ammunition between an unknown date and November 14, 2023.

Both men have also denied allegations of conspiring to import and supply controlled drugs between an unknown date and December 2, 2023.

Mr McAlpine-Talbot also denied a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice by improperly sharing information into the investigation of the murder of Wilfred Outerbridge Jr.

Ryan Resendes, Jonathan Mello and Jose Puga have all pleaded guilty to offences linked to the alleged plot.

Earlier in the trial, the jury saw CCTV footage showing Mello and Resendes travelling between St George’s, St David’s and a public dock, while GPS records from Mr McAlpine-Talbot’s police radio showed him travelling to the same public dock at the same time in the early hours of November 14, 2023.

Less than an hour later, recordings from a St George’s garage, owned by Resendes’s family, showed Mello bringing a black bucket into the garage and removing alleged firearms in heat-sealed packages from the bucket.

The jury were also shown video clips on Mr Swan’s phone, which appeared to show a variety of cannabis products and a firearm with a laser sight, which were recorded in October 2023.

A witness said that in the recordings, they recognised the voices of both Puga and Mr Swan, who was in the United States at the time the recordings were made.

The trial continues.

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