A man duped by a friend into shipping over a million dollars worth of cannabis into Bermuda walked free from Supreme Court yesterday.

Kingsley Owen (Critter) Young of 5 Tribe Road, Paget, was unanimously acquitted by a jury on two separate counts of conspiracy to import cannabis and conspiracy to possess a controlled drug with intent to supply. Speaking to shortly after the verdict was delivered, Mr. Young said he was ?relieved? and ?looking forward to returning to normality? after a harrowing ordeal.

In January, 2003, Police discovered 19 packets of cannabis concealed within a television and dryer unit imported from Baltimore, Maryland, addressed to Mr. Young, a former employee of Bermuda Air Conditioning.

Mr. Young (pictured) maintained throughout the three-day trial that he was simply carrying out a favour for his friend and former work colleague, Dennis Simmons, who Mr. Young said had asked him to obtain some BAC container space to import a number of appliances from the US. All BAC employees are permitted to use company container?s in order to avoid freight charges ? but Mr. Young insisted he had never been party to the decision to conceal drugs within the shipment.

?I had no knowledge of the drugs until the Police came to see me at work, two days after the goods had arrived in Bermuda,? Mr. Young said during the trial. ?I was just trying to help out a friend.?

Simmons, however, who has already pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to import cannabis and received a three-year jail term, alleged in his testimony as a witness for the Crown that Mr. Young was an informed member of the scam.

Defence counsel Larry Scott pointed out afterwards that there had been a ?gaping hole? in the Crown?s case, in that they were unable to provide ?concrete evidence?, other than Simmons? testimony, that Mr. Young had any knowledge of the illegal contents hidden inside his friend?s imported goods.

?I felt reasonably confident all along because the evidence at the prosecution?s disposal was nothing other than piecemeal and circumstantial and relied upon the evidence of an untrustworthy witness,? he said.

?The Crown made all sorts of implications, but they were never able to conclusively establish that my client knew about the drug smuggling operation. They had not one scintilla of creditable evidence to prove this and they were therefore always in great difficulty. But Owen is now very happy and hopefully now he can start the process of rebuilding his life.?

On the day the goods arrived in Bermuda, Mr. Young admitted he had loaded the cardboard boxes into the back of his work truck and transported them to Simmons? residence in Smith?s Parish.

However, he rejected the testimony of Simmons, who suggested that he had instructed him, over the telephone from work later that day, to leave the dryer containing the cannabis outside the house so he could come back to collect it that evening.

Simmons had also alleged that Mr. Young told him to deliver two packets of cannabis to a man named Judson Williams ? an accusation Mr. Young strenuously denied, claiming he did not even know a Mr. Williams.

By Press time last night, it was not clear whether the Crown would be appealing against the verdict.