A package of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee beans also contained 1,195 grams of cannabis worth $60,000, a Supreme Court jury heard yesterday.

The cannabis was discovered in the package which was sent to Bermuda from Jamaica in a Federal Express package in May, 2003.

Kevin Wayne Smith, 47, of Union Street, Pembroke, is charged with possessing the cannabis with intent to supply on May 28, 2003. He denies the charge.

The jury heard that Smith ? a car-washer ? told Police he was asked to pick up the package from a Federal Express office on Serpentine Road by an unidentified man not before the courts.

?He said he would take care of me afterwards. Most likely money. Around $40 or $50,? Smith told Police in a witness statement on May 29, 2003.

In the statement read by Det. Con. Windol Thorpe, Smith said he had picked up two other packages for this individual, the first time to pay off a debt of $70 accrued at a gambling den.

?Did you suspect it was drugs?? Det. Con. Thorpe asked Smith in an interview.

?I don?t know. It had to be something illegal,? Smith replied.

However, under cross-examination by defence lawyer Rick Woolridge, Det. Con. Thorpe admitted a $40 or $50 payment was ?small figures? and he had expected a larger amount.

Additionally, when the detective put it to Smith that he imported drugs, Smith replied he did not know anything about that.

However Crown counsel Shakira Dill said money received by individuals involved in drug trafficking depended on the roles they played.

Customs officers found six bags of cannabis hidden inside six bags of Jamaican coffee beans in a package at a Serpentine Road Federal Express office on May 23, 2003, Ms Dill said.

The package was addressed to a fake name ? Sadie Furtardo of 21 Trimingham Hill, Paget ? from sender Maggie Jones, Negril District, WestMorelands, Jamaica, West Indies, she said.

But Heather French, who lives at 21 Trimingham Hill said she did not order any coffee from Jamaica and had not authorised anyone to send parcels to her address of five years.

On May 28, Police performed a sting operation at Federal Express, the court heard.

Sgt. Tracy Burgess told a seven-woman, five-man jury she was hidden in an office watching a video monitor as Smith enter the Federal Express office.

?He approached the counter and handed a piece of paper to the front desk clerk,? Sgt. Burgess said. ?The clerk handed paper back to Smith who wrote on it.?

Smith was handed the package of coffee beans ? minus the cannabis ? and allowed to leave the shop where he was apprehended by Det. Con. Thorpe.

Det. Con. Thorpe escorted Smith and the package back to Police Headquarters at Prospect by 12.40 p.m. However, by 3.40 p.m. Police were following Smith to a drop-off on Dundonald Street where he gave it to the unidentified second man who put it in the back seat of his car.

The car was taken back to Prospect, where at 5.38 p.m. that day Smith told Police he knew nothing about the green-plant material in the coffee beans.

The next day ? May 29 ? Smith took Narcotics detectives to his Pembroke home where he showed Police pieces of paper with telephone numbers and an airway bill number written on them.

Sgt. Burgess admitted to Mr. Woolridge that she did not recall anything out of ordinary about Smith?s demeanour in Fed Ex.

?Nothing was out of the ordinary was it?? Mr. Woolridge asked. ?If so you would have recorded it in your report on June 18. Because nothing was recorded ? there was nothing special, was there??

Sgt. Burgess agreed.

The trial continues before Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves.