A man alleged by prosecutors to be part of a guns-and-drugs conspiracy was simply a "homeless bum" and "neighbourhood lackey" who ran errands for people, his lawyer claimed yesterday.

Shade Subair made the claim while cross-examining Kershun Dublin, 25, another of the defendants in the case. She alleged that Dublin "used" her client Arthur Dill, 45, to pick up the courier box at the centre of the case in return for $20.

The pair stand charged alongside Justin Calderon, 25, after Police and Customs officers found four handguns, 164 bullets and $25,000 worth of cannabis in a courier box at the airport last April 28. The contraband was concealed inside an orange toolbox, which had been purchased and mailed from Florida.

The trio, who are all from Pembroke, deny conspiring to possess the firearms and ammunition, and conspiring to import the drugs.

The jury has heard from prosecution witnesses how Police officers carried out a "controlled delivery" of the parcel. They removed the illegal items from it and put it back into the DHL courier company's circulation to see who picked it up.

Prosecutor Robert Welling has alleged that ten days later, each of the three defendants became involved in the transportation of the box to a shed at Calderon's address in Mission Lane, where it was found covered in a sheet.

Dill admits he attended the DHL offices in Serpentine Road, Pembroke, and signed for the box. He told the Police that he did so after being offered the job as a $20 "hustle" for Dublin who he knew by the nickname 'Smalls'.

However, in evidence in his own defence on Friday, Dublin, a father of two young daughters, claimed he only became involved after offering to help Dill. He said he spotted Dill outside DHL on May 8, unable to get the toolbox on the bike he was riding.

He said he offered to transport it in his friend Tianna Paiva's car to the address in Crane Lane that Dill gave him for his friend Treddy. He told the jury that since Treddy was not at home when they got there, he enlisted his friend Calderon to help carry it to Calderon's shed, and store it there for safekeeping.

However, Dill's lawyer Ms Subair disputed this version of events when she cross-examined Dublin yesterday. She put it to him that Dill is "what children would call a homeless bum." Dublin said he did not know that Dill was homeless, telling the court he thought he lived in a house "on Pond Hill". Ms Subair, however, said Dill was squatting in a vacant apartment on May 8 and usually slept anywhere he could find shelter.

"The fact is, I'm going to suggest to you, that what you see in the dock right now is the tidiest and cleanest version you ever saw of that man. He was, on May 8, 2008, dirty-looking and smelly," said Ms Subair.

"I didn't get too close to smell him," replied Dublin. He agreed with her that Dill was the "neighbourhood lackey" and that he never saw him again after taking the box from him at DHL and putting it in the car.

Ms Subair went to on suggest that what really happened that day was that Dublin "took advantage of Mr. Dill, knowing he would be happy to make that $20 you gave him".

He denied this.

Dublin was also cross-examined by Calderon's lawyer, John Perry QC. He agreed with Mr. Perry that he had no prior arrangement with Calderon to get him to take the box out of the car.

Mr. Perry put it to him: "Isn't there somebody behind you Mr. Dublin, in this whole exercise? Is it the case that somebody paid you to get the box from DHL?"

"No," replied Dublin.

The case continues.