A radar system that monitors ships in Bermuda?s waters was out of commission for nearly seven months ? spanning the time a yacht allegedly used in a drugs plot entered the Island.

Scott Simmons, port security officer for the Bermuda Government told Supreme Court the tracking system on top of Gibbs Hill Lighthouse was destroyed on September 5, 2003 by Hurricane Fabian and not replaced until March 28 the following year.

Sandys Parish men George Leonard Lambert, 53, Gladwyn Sherwyn Simmons, 54, and Ricardo Michael Tucker, 31, are accused of the conspiracy. In his opening address to the jury when the trial began last month, Crown counsel Carrington Mahoney claimed the yacht left Florida around February 13, 2004, picked up ?the cargo? in Haiti, and was first seen in Bermuda in Ely?s Harbour, Somerset, on March 9. It was not until March 11 that it checked in at the yacht reporting centre in St George?s, he said. Mr. Mahoney told the jury the boat ?sneaked in undetected? to Ely?s Harbour because of the broken radar.

In his evidence, Mr. Simmons said the hurricane damage to the Gibbs Hill radar meant little or no surveillance capability for the west end of the Island. He told the court the radar could be easily seen from a distance of around five miles prior to being blown off but afterwards would be clearly missing ?if you were used to seeing it?.

Shade Subair, defence counsel for Tucker, asked if there was any public report of the antenna being destroyed, and he replied that this would have been in the newspapers. She also asked if he had discussed this issue with anyone since he first took the witness stand on Tuesday.

Mr. Simmons replied that the current maritime operations centre officer had confirmed for him the dates of the radar?s destruction and replacement.

Lambert, Simmons and Tucker deny the conspiracy charge, and the case continues.