A man accused of importing heroin and cannabis to Bermuda claimed yesterday that a a Customs officer had given an untrue version of events.

Michael Troy Berkley is said by the Crown to have brought 155 grams of heroin and 13 grams of cannabis through Bermuda International Airport in May, 2004 hidden inside hair care products and a brush.

Berkley, 43, of no fixed abode, who denies the charges, claimed earlier in the Supreme Court trial that a woman named Nadine Brown, whom he met on vacation in Jamaica, planted the drugs in his luggage. The court has heard from Senior Customs Officer Edward Lambert how the drugs were found when Berkley returned from a ten-day trip via Atlanta.

During cross-examination by Crown counsel Graveney Bannister yesterday, Berkley said he had only seen the top part of the inside of his suitcase when he opened it in Atlanta to put some newly-purchased children's clothes inside.

He agreed he had told the Customs officer that he packed his black and grey suitcase himself. However, he denied telling the officer that the small brush in question was his.

"Mr. Lambert said it was mine. I never said it was mine," he told the court.

He also claimed that the Customs officer had told him that he had bought the brush during his trip. "He didn't ask me. He told me," he said.

Mr. Bannister put it to the defendant that he gave a different version of events during a Police interview on May 12, 2004 than he had given to the Customs officer when stopped at the airport on May 10 2004.

Berkley responded: "He (Lambert) told me that was my brush. I told him that's not true. That's a lie, sir."

He went on to tell the court of his reaction when the drugs were found in his bag, saying: "I was surprised, shocked and angry."

When Mr. Bannister put it to the defendant that he had reason to suspect he was carrying illegal drugs, he replied: "I don't know. I don't know nothing. I don't know."

When defence lawyer Victoria Pearman put the same question during her re-examination, Berkley denied having any reason to suspect he had drugs.

The defendant has pleaded not guilty to importing heroin and possessing it with intent to supply. He has also denied importing and possessing cannabis. The trial, being heard before Puisne Justice Charles-Etta Simmons, is set to continue on Tuesday.