A Jamaican man accused of importing drugs worth up to $300,000 told yesterday of his shock when he found out two bottles of rum he brought to the Island contained liquid cocaine.

Clifton Hopeton Morrison told a Supreme Court jury he was to bring in the bottles by a Jamaican man he knew only as Jabba.

Morrison, 39, said he agreed to come to Bermuda for $5,000 and an airline ticket to collect money owed to Jabba, whom he met six months earlier but whose second name he did not know.

He was given the name and address of Cathy Tait, of 26 Cooks Hill Road, Somerset.

Morrison, of St. Ann's Parish, said Jabba gave him two bottles of rum at the Montego Bay, Jamaica airport last February.

He said he asked Jabba about the contents of the bottles and checked himself to confirm that the seals were unbroken.

He then checked the bottles against identical rum bottles on the shelves in the duty-free shop, he said.

Morrison said a Customs officer in Miami broke the seal of one bottle, tipped some of the liquid onto his finger then disappeared for a couple of minutes.

When the officer returned, he said it was OK and allowed him to continue his flight to New York.

Morrison, a travelling auto parts salesman who was in financial trouble, said he missed his connection in New York but his luggage travelled on to Bermuda.

He caught a flight the following day.

When a Customs officer in Bermuda questioned him about why the seal on one bottle was broken, he told them it had passed through Customs in Miami.

But he was detained after a Customs officer with a sniffer dog poured some of the liquid out.

Morrison, who denies importation of the drugs and possession with intent to supply, said he was taken to Hamilton Police Station and told the bottles had tested positively for cocaine.

Giving evidence yesterday, Morrison told his lawyer Victoria Pearman: "I was expecting them to tell me it was a mistake. As far as I knew it was rum. I was shocked because I had taken my responsibilities seriously.

"I asked if he was sure he had heard right and I repeated that I had bought them myself.'' Ms Pearman said: "If anyone was to suggest to you that in the course of your dealings with (two Police officers) that you admitted to be knowingly involved in any of the offences in which you are charged, what would you respond?'' He said: "I did not admit to being knowingly involved.'' Morrison later told Crown counsel Larry Mussenden that, despite knowing Jabba for more than six months, he did not know his second name. He thought Jabba was the man's first name.

The trial before Puisne Judge Norma Wade-Miller continues today.