Two men hugged each other in the dock as a jury found them not guilty of conspiring to import $236,000 of cocaine into Bermuda.

Shannon Dwayne Tucker and his nephew Jahmiko Hayward finally walked out of the Supreme Court grinning yesterday after a three-week trial during which they were accused of attempting to smuggle the stash to the Island inside a car bumper.

The bumper was shipped from St. Martin under the name Tucker, before being collected by Mr. Hayward from courier firm DHL in Bermuda, the court had been told.

However, the defendants had claimed they knew nothing about the drugs inside the bumper when it was intercepted by Police at Bermuda Airport in 2004.

The jury of 11 women and one man took around four hours to deliver not guilty verdicts on the pair.

Mr. Tucker, 30, of Broken Hill Lane, Smith's, had rejected the opportunity of legal aid and defended himself in the trial ? stating that he did not need a lawyer because the charge against him was "a laugh".

Visibly elated at the verdict yesterday, he said outside court: "I'm very, very relieved, but we knew all the while it was just a misunderstanding.

"I chose not to have a lawyer because I knew I was not guilty. For me, it was an open and closed case from the beginning.

"The prosecution kept hitting me with words to make me look bad, but I knew I would be ok."

Mr. Tucker said he did not feel bitter that he had to sit through a three-week trial to prove his innocence.

He explained: "Whatever was necessary. Whatever was necessary."Mr. Hayward, 22, of Green Acres, Devonshire, said: "I'm relieved because this has been going on for three years and it's been hanging over me all that time.

"Sometimes I wondered if I would be found guilty, but fate was fate and I'm all right now. I'm very happy."

The prosecution had alleged the pair came up with a "well orchestrated and well engineered plan" to smuggle cocaine into Bermuda.

Senior Crown counsel Paula Tyndale had asked the jury whether they believed someone in the drugs business, not known to either defendant, would pack cocaine worth more than $200,000 in a bumper part and "leave it at large" to be collected by somebody else.

Ms Tyndale had also pointed to a flurry of calls between Mr. Tucker and Mr. Hayward around the time of the shipment arriving in Bermuda. She had asked why so many calls were made if it were just a "simple parcel".

Mr. Tucker had told the jury he had shipped the bumper, along with another package containing siderails, to fit up a girlfriend's car.

Allan Doughty, representing Mr. Hayward, had said there were gaps in the Crown's case. Mr. Doughty acknowledged there had been a series of calls between the defendants, but said no evidence revealed the contents of those exchanges. He stressed there was nothing in the records about any "coke deal".

The court had heard both defendants made confessions to Police. However, Mr. Doughty said his client had misunderstood officers' questioning and was acting under the shock of being arrested in a sting operation and accused of importation.

Mr. Tucker had claimed the first statement he gave to Police was untrue because he was coming down off heroin.

Although it was ultimately successful, the manner of Mr. Tucker's defence occasionally left jurors and lawyers scratching their heads during the trial.

At one point, he made a bizarre admission that he has two dead Pit Bull puppies and some goldfish in his freezer.

He was also repeatedly scolded by Puisne Justice Carlisle Greaves for talking across Ms Tyndale.

After sending the jury out of the court one day, Mr. Justice Greaves told Mr. Tucker: "I have to confess, this is the toughest case I have ever dealt with in my life. It's tough because of the way you are behaving and because you have not got counsel."

Following the jury's verdicts, Mr. Justice Greaves told the pair: "Mr. Tucker and Mr. Hayward, the jury has said you are not guilty. You are free to go."

After the trial, Mr. Doughty said: "It's clear that the jury had a reasonable doubt in returning a verdict of not guilty."

Investigating officer Detective Constable Devon Richardson said: "The jury speaks for the gentlemen and they have reached their decision. We have no choice but to abide by that."