A man accused of plotting to import cannabis valued at $252,000 has been cleared of the charge by a jury.

The case against Damon Francis arose after an American national, Anthony Isaac, was found with 32 packages of cannabis in his cabin on the cruise ship Norwegian Dawn.

Opening the Supreme Court case against Mr. Francis last Tuesday, prosecutor Takiyah Burgess explained that Isaac was co-operative when interviewed by the Police after the cruise-ship stash was found on June 17.

Although the jury was not told as such, Isaac admitted he had been involved in an importation conspiracy and told the Police he was to be paid $10,000 in cash for delivering the drugs to a man in Bermuda.

Mr. Francis, 32, of St Mary's Road, Warwick, was alleged by prosecutors to have been the man due to pick up the drugs.

A cell phone number that Mr. Francis admitted to be his was found in Isaac's wallet after his arrest. And Isaac, a 34-year-old truck driver from The Bronx, New York, helped set up a Police operation that led to Mr. Francis' arrest.

During the four-day Francis trial last week, prosecutor Ms Burgess told the jury Isaac used a pay phone at the Southampton Princess hotel to call Mr. Francis' cell phone on June 18 and arrange to meet him at the Jasmine Lounge at the Southampton Princess hotel.

However, an undercover detective named Rickson Wiltshire was sent to the hotel bar to pose as Isaac instead, with dummy packages in a knapsack. Other officers were posted in strategic positions around the bar.

According to the case for the prosecution, Mr. Francis walked into the bar and engaged Det. Con. Wiltshire in conversation. It was alleged that he identified himself as the person he was due to meet.

It was further alleged that the subject of payment came up, and when the defendant was asked if he had the money, he said he had to go and get it at which point he was arrested.

The Police did not tape-record the conversation in question, which meant the jury had to rely on Det. Con. Wiltshire's account of what transpired during the talk in the hotel bar.

The officer in charge of the case, Leroy Mathurin, told the court during the trial that it was not feasible to place a wire on the undercover officer due to the fast-moving nature of the operation.

However, Detective Constable Mathurin admitted in answer to questions from defence lawyer Charles Richardson that "by not tape recording that conversation, you've deprived this jury of the best evidence."

Mr. Francis denied any wrongdoing. In evidence to the jury on Thursday, he said he'd gone to the Southampton Princess to pay a debt he owed a gambling partner named Antoine.

He explained that he'd got a phone call from a friend of Antoine telling him to meet him in the hotel bar and pay him the money which is why he told the undercover detective "I'm the one you're supposed to meet".

Mr. Francis said when the topic of money came up, he thought this referred to the money he owed Antoine. Mr. Francis told the jury he didn't know anything about the drugs Isaac was caught with and there was no mention of any drugs in the conversation at the hotel bar.

He did not give a full name for Antoine or Antoine's friend during his evidence.

The jury panel of nine men and three women cleared his name by a unanimous verdict after just under two hours of deliberation on Friday. Mr. Francis, who has no previous convictions, commented as he left that he felt "very happy".

Isaac was jailed for seven years last month for conspiring to import the cannabis on the cruise ship and possessing it with intent to supply.