The trial of three men charged with conspiracy to import a large quantity of cannabis in October 2003 finally began in Supreme Court yesterday after well over a week of pre-trial legal arguments.

Former Dunkley's Dairy employees Michael Madeiros, 41, and Stephen Flood, 39, and another man Maurice Stovell, 37, are accused of facilitating the concealment of eight pounds of the drug in a Dunkley's Dairy container shipped from the United States.

Addressing the nine woman, three man jury, Crown counsel Paula Tyndale revealed the drugs were initially detected by US customs officials who, in collaboration with Bermuda Police, allowed a portion of the shipment to reach the Island.

Madeiros, Ms Tyndale argued, was the ringleader of the scheme, while both Flood and Stovell were responsible for handling the boxes once they had reached Bermuda. Dunkley's Dairy office manager Sharon DeSilva testified that Stephen Flood had in the past obtained the company's permission to use their container space to import products for his own business Locomotion Graphics, in order to avoid freight charges.

Ms DeSilva said that Flood had loitered around her office for "close to two hours" on October 24 waiting for the container to arrive at the dairy and appeared unusually "nervous and fidgety".

Under cross-examination defence counsel Mark Pettingill queried why Ms DeSilva had not mentioned Flood's "twitchy" behaviour in her official Police statement taken on October 28 2003 and implied she had decided to add to her account following pre-trial consultation with dairy boss Michael Dunkley and the Department of Public Prosecutions. "I was never asked by the Police about his behaviour at the time," Ms DeSilva contended.

Under guidance from narcotics officer Detective Constable Windol Thorpe ? who along with another colleague hid on Dunkley's Dairy property in order to monitor movements on the loading dock floor through two newly-installed security cameras ? the court was shown footage of the container being unloaded at around 9.30 a.m by a group of employees.

D.c. Thorpe said he observed a white man, whom he identified as Flood, placing a number of boxes on a trolley and loading them into the back of a grey Mitsubishi jeep parked in the company car park. Four boxes were eventually placed into a Dunkley's Dairy van while two were left in the back of the jeep, he said.

But when pressed by Mr. Pettingill, D.c. Thorpe conceded he had no way of knowing at the time what was stored in the boxes, nor did he have a perfectly clear view of their transfer between the jeep and the van.

The trial continues today before Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves.