In an article in Friday's Royal Gazette it was incorrectly stated that Terry Eugene Darrell had been arrested in Florida and told to leave the country. It should have said he had been arrested in Bermuda and told not to leave the Island.

The fate of an accused drug smuggler hangs in the balance this morning after both defence and prosecution finished summing up their case.

Terry Eugene Darrell denies importing nearly $200,000 of cannabis hidden in a false floor of a crate with intent to supply.

Yesterday Darrell, a cabinetmaker, said he had been shipping crates to Bermuda as he was moving part of his business from Florida.

Asked why he was leaving Florida, Mr. Darrell said: "I was arrested and my travel documents were taken and I was told to leave the country.'' Darrell, 43, said he had been expecting many shipments so when he went to Hamilton docks on August 13, 1998, to pick one up he wasn't sure what it was.

When the crate was opened in front of him, Darrell admitted he had concerns.

He said: "I was kind of stunned -- it was very large with very few items. It was amateurishly built.'' Darrell said he only recognised a few of the items in the crate but Customs told him he had to take it.

Darrell fetched his trucker friend Walter Green, who was innocent of any suspicion, to take the wood and goods.

Darrell let Mr. Green drive off with the wood and the contents and the pair unloaded it later that night, throwing the wood into a lumber bin at Darrell's Dockyard workshop Wood Dimensions.

The accused said when Police raided just after they unloaded he pointed out where the items had been put as well as where the wood was when they'd asked him if there was anything they had missed.

He said: "When officers lifted the lid on the crate bottom I was dumbfounded -- I hung my head.'' Prosecutor Sandra Bacchus asked why Darrell hadn't smelled a rat earlier when, just before picking up his crate, he had got a fax from a nonexistent company saying that particular crate was in New York.

Darrell said: "I was confused.'' Ms. Bacchus said: "You are an experienced businessman -- you are aware drugs are secreted in items and sent.'' In her closing statement Ms Bacchus said: "He wanted to import a crate and was told he would need an invoice unless it had used items -- he said he didn't have an invoice so he miraculously produces a fax which says it has used tools in it and he can get it off the dock.'' However lawyer Mark Pettingill said his client, of Coral Acres Drive, Southampton, had taken extraordinary risks for a guilty man.

He pointed out that Darrell had turned up with dodgy paperwork and without a truck to help get the crate away smoothly.

He had then gone at the crate with a hammer -- risking spilling the costly drugs all over Hamilton Harbour.