A Bermudian man found off the coast of St. Maarten with over 10,000 pounds of marijuana aboard his boat, claimed this week he was drinking in a Cura?ao bar when he was randomly approached by a Colombian man who asked if he wanted to make some money.

"I said yes," Winston Robinson admitted to a Philipsburg court on the Dutch - governed Caribbean island Tuesday.

The 60-year-old former Mangrove Bay man was answering charges of transporting and attempting to import the drugs to St. Maarten. He was arrested with five others on June 25 after his boat, theCarl Senior had drifted for four days after running out of fuel before it was intercepted.

The 48-foot, wooden fishing boat was piled high with 142 bales of marijuana. Robinson's one-hour trial was heard by a single judge in St. Maarten's court of First Instance on Tuesday. Under the Napoleanic Laws which govern The Netherlands and its dependencies like St. Maarten, defendants do not enter a plea to the charges against them.

Prosecutor Cor Merx asked for a sentence of two years in prison for Robinson and four of the five others arrested. Mr. Merx told Carl Senior - a Cura?o native - is being tried separately on September 18 as it is believed he played a more central role in trafficking the drugs than the others.

Mr. Merx has also asked that the The Royal Gazette understands.

Robinson told the court Coast Guard movements and engine problems forced the Abraham van der Hulst spotted the boat 35 nautical miles off the Dutch island of Saba. The ship's captain alerted the Coast Guard and the boat was towed to St. Maarten where all six men have been held in the House of Detention since their arrest.

But defence lawyers for the five argued that the prosecution's case should be thrown out of court.

They claimed the arrest took place in international waters beyond Dutch Antilles' jurisdiction.

Lawyers Melinda Hoeve, Monique Hofman and Boris den Hartog also argued the indictment should was null and void as the location the criminal offence took place was not indicated, the Daily News reported.

Judge van den Brink is expected to hand down a verdict in the case on September 17.

He told the court Tuesday he needed to ponder the national and international aspects of the case. After Robinson's arrests, top Bermudian Narcotics officers travelled to St. Maarten to interview him about his ties to local drug rings.Never Come Back when it delivered marijuana to Roberts off Bermuda in December 2000.

The court heard that Robinson sailed the Caribbean with a German sailboat owner - who was given immunity for his testimony - for almost one year to locate the drugs while supported by Roberts by wire transfers.

Roberts was recently sentenced to ten years in prison for conspiring with Vincentian Alphonso Holder and others not before the court to import 200 pounds cannabis to Bermuda.