Three Airport workers are free on $20,000 bail this morning after appearing in Magistrates' Court on charges they imported 12 pounds of cannabis.

Victor Arthur Bean, Keith Maurice Smith, and Antowyn Robert Bennett were not required to say anything during the hearing before Senior Magistrate Will Francis.

They will return to Magistrates' Court on February 21 for mention while paperwork is prepared for a preliminary inquiry, then Supreme Court arraignment.

The men's appearance came at 4.15 p.m. yesterday. They had been in custody since being nabbed in a sting on Monday.

Bean, 38, of 6 Aerial View Road, Devonshire, Smith, 48, of 37 Slip Road, St.

George's, and Bennett, 31, of 17 Mount Road, St. George's are understood to be workers for an airline and work in the freight shed.

Smith is the son of a deceased Police assistant commissioner and a retired senior Customs officer. All three men are Bermudian.

They are charged with conspiring with others in Bermuda and elsewhere to import cannabis between a date unknown and January 17, and importing cannabis between an unknown date and January 17.

The men are also charged with handling cannabis with intent to supply between January 10 and 17 and possessing cannabis with intent to supply between those dates.

Police estimate the street value of the cannabis to be about $281,000.

Mr. Francis granted each of the men bail $20,000 bail on condition they each provide a surety in a similar amount and report to either the St. George's or Hamilton Police Station on Mondays and Fridays.

Airport workers face drug charges And in a condition usually reserved for assault charges, the men are ordered to have no contact with each other without their lawyers being present.

Lastly, they must present to Police all of their travel documents. There were nine narcotics department officers in the court. Outside, family members expressed their displeasure at the accused being photographed by commenting "they (reporters and photographers) should fall on their faces'', and another person spat at a reporter.