A 30-year-old Sandys Parish man on trial in Supreme Court for importing up to $105,000 of cocaine told Police the drug belonged to a friend.

Antoine R. Wade, of George's Bay Lane, has denied importing the controlled substance and possessing it with intent to supply on July 28, 1997.

The seven-man, five-woman jury have heard that Wade arrived in Bermuda on an American Airlines flight from New York on July 28.

After observing Wade disembark, a Customs Officer pulled him aside for a closer inspection.

A stereo speaker was retrieved from a duffel bag and Wade told officials that he was bringing it into Bermuda for a friend.

Crown counsel Patrick Doherty said an X-ray revealed something was inside the speaker and the Police were called.

A second X-ray uncovered another package inside a clothes iron which Wade claimed was purchased from the same store as the speaker. Det. Con. Robert Cardwell testified that when officers discovered the white powder, Wade said: "It looks like cocaine to me. That's the only white powder I know of.'' Later examination by a Government analyst proved the white powder to be cocaine hydrochloride. The combined weight of the two packages was 359.6 grams.

If sold in "half-gram plastic wraps'', the value was estimated at $105,000.

If the drug was sold by the ounce, the value was estimated at $37,500.

Det. Con. Cardwell said Wade told them the packages belonged to a Lemont Smith who lived on Hermitage Road in Devonshire.

While in custody, Wade requested a meeting with the officers in charge of the case and the then Acting Detective Inspector of Narcotics Legay Farley.

Wade offered to assist the officers in a controlled delivery of the speaker and iron to Mr. Smith.

The Police accepted Wade's cooperation but Det. Insp. Farley yesterday insisted no promises were made in return.

On July 29, Wade and officers attempted the controlled delivery of the items to Mr. Smith.

Det. Con. Cardwell said they went to Wade's girlfriend's Sandys home where they attempted to call Mr. Smith.

Wade was unable to contact the man and the controlled delivery was eventually abandoned.

In a July 30 Police statement Wade told officers his friend called him while he was in New York and asked him to purchase a speaker and an iron from a Brooklyn Radio Shack.

Wade told Police that he did not find it strange that the friend told him to get the items from a particular store and even which sales person to ask for.

"It didn't seem strange,'' Wade told Police. "He may have called ahead of time to check to see if they had it.'' Yesterday, the American manager of the Brooklyn Radio Shack where Wade bought the speaker gave testimony.

Finley Murray said he accepted the receipt shown to him -- by Mr. Doherty -- as a valid Radio Shack receipt. And he told the court the receipt showed that Wade was served by the manager. But the manager was unable to recognise Wade as a former customer.

He also denied being contacted by anyone to sell items to a specific customer or knowing anyone by the name of Lemont Smith.

Murray went on to explain to the jury that the Radio Shack chain of stores sells audio and video equipment, computers, and school supplies. But none of the outlets sell clothes irons.

Wade maintained throughout his various statements to Police that he did not know there were drugs inside the iron or the stereo speaker.

Defence lawyer Marc Telemaque argued that it was not unusual for his client to bring in goods, especially cellular telephones, for friends.

Wade pointed out that he was always searched by Customs officials when he returned to Bermuda.

"To bring it in would be a death wish,'' he told Police.

Under cross examination by Mr. Telemaque, Det. Con. Cardwell admitted that a Lemont Smith did exist and that the Police interviewed the man, but were later unable to track him down. The trial continues today before Chief Justice Austin Ward.