Heroin with a street value of $51,840 was found by Custom officers hidden inside a pair of sneakers in a teenager?s hand luggage after she disembarked from a New York flight, a jury heard yesterday.

The drugs were discovered in two packages concealed inside the heel of the shoes beneath the inner sole when 18-year-old Shaunnah Melanie Dill was stopped by officers after returning to the Island from a three-day trip to North America, according to evidence presented at a Supreme Court trial.

When Dill, now 20, was shown the drugs, she exclaimed: ?Oh, my God. You?ve got to be kidding? and burst into tears in the arrival hall of Bermuda International Airport, according to witnesses.

Dill, whose address at the time of the incident in April, 2004 was Sousa Estate Road in Devonshire, has pleaded not guilty to one charge of importing a controlled drug and one charge of possessing a controlled drug with intent to supply.

Outlining the prosecution case, Anthony Blackman told the jury that Dill left the Island on April 15, 2004 and returned three days later on an American Airlines flight from New York?s JFK Airport.

While she was waiting in line in the arrivals hall, Police Sergeant Ian Coyles walked along the line of incoming passengers with his Belgium Shepherd dog ?Rokki? who is trained to sniff out certain types of controlled drugs. As the pair walked past Dill, Rokki alerted Sgt. Coyles that he had picked up the scent of a drug from a grey plastic ?Nike? bag Dill was holding, according to Sgt. Coles.

He told the court he then alerted nearby Customs officers to conduct a check of Dill?s baggage.

Dill paid $171 duty on goods she was bringing onto the Island before collecting her main luggage and waiting in line for the secondary check by Customs officers.

Giving evidence to the court, Customs officer Brumwin Thompson said it was he who initially inspected Dill?s luggage.

?I asked her the purpose of her trip. She answered ?vacation ? visiting friends?,? said Mr. Thompson. Examining the grey, plastic bag she was carrying he found two pairs of men?s sneakers inside. One pair were Adidas and the other were a tan/brown pair of New Balance sneakers.

?I asked her who the sneakers were for and she said they were for a friend,? Mr. Thompson told the court. ?I asked her what was her friend?s name and she replied his name was Jamie. She said she did not know Jamie?s last name.

?I then asked her where she had got the sneakers from and she said she had got them from a friend?s house.?

The New Balance sneakers were examined by an ion scan and showed up positive for drugs.

Detective Sgt. Hayden Small, formerly of the Police narcotics divisions, told the court he used a metal probe to test the sole of one of the sneakers and uncovered a brown taped package.

He said: ?I asked her what it was and she replied ?I don?t know?. I cautioned her and she replied ?Oh my God. You have to be kidding,? and started to cry.?

He searched the second New Balance sneaker and found a similar package. Both packages were sent for analysis and found to contain 77.78 grams of a brown powder which contained ten percent heroin.

Another narcotics officer Det. Sgt. Christopher Clarke, told the court that such a quantity of heroin would normally be broken up into 2,500 ?decks? or wraps selling at around $20 each. This would give a total street value of $51,840.

Lawyer Charles Richardson suggested that the low quality of heroin in the packages made it likely the drug was intended for a wholesale buyer rather than to be sold on the streets, thereby reducing its ?worth? to the supplier to around $16,000.

However, Det. Sgt. Clarke maintained that even this lower quality drug would be broken down into ?decks? and sold on the street.

After the two packages were found in the sneakers Custom Officer Heather Brown asked Dill where she had bought the shoes and Dill answered ?in a store.?

A full search of Dill?s luggage was then conducted and no other drugs were found.

While carrying out a search of Dill?s luggage Det. Sgt. Clarke said he found a receipt from a Foot Locker sports store for two pairs of sneakers, which he said related to two pairs of female sneakers he found in Dill?s main luggage.

Dill is being defended by Victoria Pearman and Mr. Richardson. The case continues.