A Supreme Court jury yesterday acquitted a man accused of smuggling $281,400 of cannabis to Bermuda in industrial equipment.

David Allen James Dumont shed tears of relief after a majority verdict of 10 to two cleared him of both importing cannabis and possession with intent to supply on April 14, 1998.

He hugged his mother and friends and family who had gathered in Supreme Court Three to hear the result, but he refused to talk to the Press.

His defence counsel Richard Hector said: "This is a just verdict with the evidence and my client can now resume his life after this ordeal which has lasted far too long.

"My client has an unblemished character. He served in the Bermuda Regiment for seven years and instructed recruits in his role as an armourer. He was also a community service leader.'' Mr. Dumont, 27, had been under suspicion after sniffer dogs alerted Customs officers at Number Seven Dock 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. They then resealed the tube in the hope of catching Mr. Dumont when he arrived to pick it up. The resealed package was then put back in Number Seven Dock where Mr. Dumont, who is the son of a senior Customs officer, tried to collect it.

Narcotics officers then raided his home in Easting Lane, Spring Hill, Warwick, on April 18, 1998.

They found a receipt for an airline ticket which showed Mr. Dumont had visited San Francisco in March.

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

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

In interviews with Police Mr. Dumont said the compressor had been sent by Brian Gallup.

In court this week he admitted he had made this up and he was not sure if Brian Gallup existed.

He claimed he had done this when Police mentioned that Harvey Williams, the man Mr. Dumont later said was responsible for sending the compressor, was named by Police as being involved in drugs.

Mr. Dumont had told Police that Williams was a Bermudian living in California who owed him money and the compressor had been sent by him as a form of repayment.

However when the consignment turned up in Bermuda on April 14 the sender on the package was listed as a "John Smith''.

In his closing statement on Friday Senior Crown counsel Peter Eccles said Mr.

Dumont was a self-confessed liar who had yielded to temptation in importing an extremely profitable shipment.

He said: "He's lied before -- he lied about Mr. Gallup.

"The only person expressing any interest in this delivery is Dumont.'' Mr. Eccles also said it was unlikely that a drugs supplier would send the cannabis in the compressor if Mr. Dumont was not in on the act because the doctored equipment would have blown up if used.

Mr. Eccles said: "It contains $281,400 of cannabis. If he took it to the Romanoff building (where he was working) and plugged it in it would blow up and spread marijuana all over the walls.'' But in his closing address to the jury Mr. Hector pointed to his client's previous exemplary record and his willingness to cooperate with inquiries.

As well as serving in the Bermuda Regiment, Mr. Dumont had done security work for the Police and the airport.

Mr. Hector said: "He's a straight arrow who's lived in the community without blemish.

"He's not a man who needs to augment his income by bringing in drugs. How can you say David Dumont imported that compressor or caused that compressor to be imported? He never saw it before.

"He wanted a compressor, not a compressor with drugs. The documents were given to my client by Sea Venture Shipping. If the assignment didn't go to him, could the Police charge Sea Venture for possession of drugs?'' Mr. Hector said Mr. Dumont's behaviour -- when the shipment arrived but was not released to him -- demonstrated his innocence.

He said: "He could have destroyed documents the prosecution have. He took the Police to find the documents.'' He added that Mr. Dumont found himself in a difficult position when the package arrived.

"It could happen to anybody,'' Mr. Hector said.

The six-day case saw plenty of fireworks between defence and the prosecution.

Mr. Eccles' application for a mistrial was turned down by Acting Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons.

She told him: "Don't give yourself a headache. You are making a mountain out of a mole hill.'' Mr. Eccles had objected to Mr. Hector inferring that the prosecution were picking their own jury after several possible candidates had been turned down.

Mr. Hector had said "they didn't look like a Bermudian jury'' and warned the jury not to think that they were the handpicked agents of the Crown.

The prosecution was also angry over claims that they were wasting time and seeking to hide things from the jury when members were sent out while various legal points were hammered out.

Mr. Eccles told The Royal Gazette : "Those were cheap shots. If we don't go ballistic now, that will be the standard.''