The ability of a Police dog scared of shiny surfaces was questioned during the trial of five men accused of conspiring to import cannabis to Bermuda.

The issue of work done by Dutch Shepherd Rena and fellow Police dog Rokki arose after evidence about their searches of a yacht allegedly used in the plot, and the home of defendant George Leonard Lambert.

Lambert, 53, Gladwyn Sherwyn Simmons, 54, Ricardo Michael Tucker, 31, Tristan La-Van Codrington, 30, and Anthony Stanley Martin, 42, are jointly accused of the conspiracy. This is alleged to have involved the yacht picking up what Mr. Mahoney described as ?the cargo? somewhere in the vicinity of Haiti during a trip from Florida to Bermuda.

Mr. Mahoney has told the jury that Police boarded the yacht on March 11, 2004, and found a piece of Duct Tape with cannabis residue on it. He said ?similar? tape was found at Lambert?s home on March 13, along with plastic buckets and an electric saw with cannabis residue on them and a large amount of ?cannabis sawdust?.

Detective Constable Christopher Binns gave evidence this week about finding the Duct Tape on Under questioning from Rick Woolridge, counsel for Codrington, the officer said he made the discovery after Police officers, Police dog Rena and Customs officers had searched the boat and not found it.

?You needed to find something on that boat. I put it to you that too much time and attention had been spent not to find anything on that boat?? said Mr. Woolridge, to which Det. Con. Binns replied ?no Sir?.

Next to give evidence for the Crown was Detective Sergeant Ian Coyles, a dog handler. He and Belgian Shepherd Rokki assisted in the search at Lambert?s Scaur Lane, Somerset, home. Det. Sgt. Coyles said the dog alerted him to various sites ? a pile of trash outside, plus a number of plastic buckets inside the house and in the cellar ? one of which had plant material residue on it. A ?fairly large hand-rolled cigarette? was found in an ashtray in Lambert?s bedroom, said the witness, which Lambert said was his.

?Are you aware of Rena? Is she good?? asked Mr. Richardson of the witness, referring to the dog involved in the search of the yacht. Det. Sgt Coyles replied that Rena ?was good? but had been sent back to school.

?She had problems with shiny floors and working on uneven surfaces,? he later explained. ?Some dogs won?t work on a shiny surface at all. They panic, and their claws come out, and they start sliding.? He listed surfaces that caused problems for Rena as being ?tiled floors and boat decks. Anything shiny and slippy.?

Asked by Mr. Mahoney how this would affect her performance, he said: ?She would be more concerned with her footing rather than going and searching. It?s just a big distraction and she?d get frightened sometimes.?

In evidence given on Thursday about the early-morning raid conducted at Lambert?s home, Crown witness Detective Constable Walter Jackson of the Narcotics Division said his role was to take notes as the search progressed. He described a bucket found in the cellar which contained bags with plant material in them and also a Garmin hand-held Global Positioning System found in a kitchen drawer. A silver and yellow hand-held machine saw with plant material on the blade was discovered in the bedroom of a resident of the property named Kwesi Hollis, said Det. Con. Jackson. Hollis said this had been put there two days before by Lambert. Having spoken during his evidence of Lambert being arrested, he confirmed under cross-examination from Elizabeth Christopher, defending Lambert, that Mr. Hollis had also been arrested. In answer to further questions from her, he said he could not be accurate about who was present at various stages during the search because he had not made notes about this.

Lambert, Simmons, Tucker, and Codrington, all of Sandys Parish, and Martin, of Jamaica, all deny conspiring together with others to import cannabis between February 1, 2004 and March 11, 2004.

Lambert denies separate charges of possessing cannabis with intent to supply and possessing equipment for the preparation of a controlled drug. He has pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis and possessing equipment for preparing a controlled drug.

The case continues.