As he took the stand in his own defence yesterday in Supreme Court, accused drug importer Eddy Franklyn Filiciana said he believed he was importing around $30,000 into Bermuda - but not in cocaine.

Filiciana has denied importing just over 700 grammes of the controlled drug on December 21 last year. Its estimated street value was a little over $192,000, if sold in half-gram wraps.

Through an interpreter, Filiciana, 43, told Assistant Justice Archibald Warner: "I had taken ill and my niece was living in my home and did not pay the rent.

"My landlord took me to court and said that I had to pay $10,000 within a month or I would have to give up my keys."

So the Dutchman said that he asked his friend, Chamo, whether he knew of any way he could secure a loan in order to pay his debts.

It was at this time, he said, that his friend told him he knew of a man who was looking to pay someone to export some money for him. Filiciana claimed that he could not remember the man's name.

"I told my friend I would think about it," he said.

Filiciana told the court he wanted to obtain some information about the exporting of money before he made a decision to do the job. He then said that he requested that he see the man personally.

"My friend brought him to me a few days later and he said I would have to take the money to Bermuda," he said. "I told him that I would do the job."

But Filiciana said the man told him that he would not be accepted for the job unless he swallowed four pieces of carrot.

"Why do I have to swallow carrots if I have to transport money?" Filiciana said he asked the man.

The Dutchman then said he was told because the money was made into pills. He said at that point he was shown a "pill" that was the same size of the pieces of carrot.

Filiciana testified that he told the man that he did not believe that there was money in the pill, and was told that he could cut it open if he wished to see for himself.

"When I opened the plastic around the pill with a pair of scissors, to my surprise, there was a round roll," he told Mr. Warner. "I opened that and there were $100 bank notes inside."

Satisfied that he was exporting money, Filiciana again excepted the job, but he said the man told him that he had to see him swallow the carrot pieces first.

He said that he was unsuccessful on his first attempt at swallowing, but was told by the man to push it down his throat with his finger.

"I did this with difficulty and was accepted for the job."

Filiciana said that he eventually made travel arrangements to come to Bermuda on December 15 and asked his sister to accompany him, as he was often discriminated against because he weighed 268 pounds. Illness, he said, prevented him from travelling on that date and instead had to rebook a flight for December 20.

According to Filiciana, during the early hours of December 20, his friend Chamo, visited the hotel room in which he was staying and gave him ten large pills to swallow. He testified that he eventually consumed 90 pills over the course of two hours.

"I asked Chamo, 'is that all?' since I was used to swallowing them by now and wanted to make more money," he said.

Filiciana said that about 4 a.m. he heard Chamo call someone and say "it had been done."

The trial continues today. Elizabeth Christopher appears of behalf of the defendant. Oonaugh Vaucrosson is representing the Crown.