faced the first day of his trial in Supreme Court yesterday.

David Allen James Dumont, 27, pleaded not guilty to importing cannabis and possession with intent to supply on April 14, 1998.

Sniffer dogs alerted Customs officers at Number Seven Dock on Front Street to a package from San Francisco addressed to All Lock and Key, Dumont's business in Warwick.

Officers found an air compressor in a cardboard box. They took apart the compressor and found a stainless steel tube which had been welded shut.

Police officers sawed open the tube and found 5,628 grams of cannabis under a copy of the San Jose Mercury News .

They then resealed the tube in the hope of catching Dumont when he arrived to pick it up.

The resealed package was then put back in Number Seven Dock, but Dumont did not try to collect it. So Narcotics officers raided his home.

When Police searched the Easting Lane, Spring Hill, Warwick, address on April 18 they found a receipt for an airline ticket which showed Dumont had visited San Francisco in March.

They also found a San Jose phone number which Dumont said was for his girlfriend there.

Police notes taken during the search recorded that Dumont admitted he was expecting delivery of the compressor which he needed to drill safes at work.

WOMAN STOLE TO HELP SUPPORT DRUG HABIT CTS Woman stole to help support drug habit A Pembroke woman went on a one-day shoplifting spree in order to support her drug habit, it was revealed in Magistrates' Court yesterday.

Alfreda Webb, 32, pleaded guilty to the theft of more than $500 worth of goods, including boots, a leather bag, drinking flasks and perfumes and colognes from four shops on September 22.

But Webb denied allegations that she stole on two more occasions, from The Phoenix Store on September 20 and from Sports R Us last Saturday.

Complainants included staff from Trimingham's in Somerset, The Rising Sun Shop in Southampton, White and Sons in Warwick and Makin' Waves in Hamilton, who all testified that they had seen Webb in the shops and that she took goods without paying for them.

Crown counsel Veronica Daley explained that, on the same day, Police saw Webb on a motorcycle with her friend and stopped to question her about what was in her knapsack.

"It was revealed that the defendant was in possession of numerous items and had no receipts for any of them,'' Mrs. Daley said. "When asked where she got them, she said she found them in the bushes at Warwick Camp.'' After being arrested, Webb, of St. John's Road, admitted to stealing the items.

Asked if she had anything to say before being sentenced yesterday, she said: "I want to apologise to everyone for my behaviour.'' Webb, who was previously convicted for possessing a pipe, admitted to being a drug addict and said while she was on the waiting list for a methadone programme, she stole to support her habit.

Magistrate Archibald Warner handed down four concurrent sentences of six months in prison, to be suspended for a year.

He said: "If you commit any more offences in that period, then the sentences will be activated.'' Webb's friend, Hyman Bartley, also faced charges of stealing.

It was alleged he took, among other things, a $495 leather jacket from Gibbons Company on October 1.

Bartley, 41, of Upland Lane, Warwick, pleaded not guilty to the charges and said: "I've been wrongfully accused. I never stole nothing.'' Both Bartley and Webb, who were released on bail, will have to return to court for trial on October 8 and 26, respectively.