An airport worker has gone on trial accused of smuggling more than $2 million worth of heroin and cannabis into Bermuda.

Opening the case against Macai Bean at Supreme Court yesterday, prosecutor Robert Welling said Bean drove a sanitation truck up to the Delta flight, which had come in from Boston.

A bag dropped out of the aircraft hold and landed by another airport employee who kicked it towards Bean. He picked it up, carried it to the truck and drove off, said Mr. Welling.

A security guard alerted the Police and customs officials and a search ensued. Two hours later, the bag was found near the area where human waste is disposed of at the airport.

Mr. Welling told the jury it contained packages wrapped in sheets which turned out to be 18 kilograms of cannabis and half a kilo of heroin, with a total street value of $2.28 million.

He also told the jury they will hear from one of Bean's work colleagues at Bermuda Aviation Services, who will tell them how he had requested to swap shifts for that day, September 1, 2008.

Bean, 25, of Sandys, denies conspiring with others to import heroin and cannabis and possessing it with intent to supply.

Taking the stand as the first witness for the prosecution, security guard Iris Young, of Safeguard Security, said she was stationed on the aircraft ramp on the morning in question.

She described how a sanitation truck backed up to the rear of the plane, and the driver attached a hose to the back and stood there for a few minutes.

Next, she said, a duffel bag dropped out of the back of the plane and one of the "baggage boys" from BAS dropped down to the ground next to it. She described seeing this man shove it towards the truck driver. He picked it up and put it in the front seat of the truck.

"I thought to myself 'why would he take the bag and put it in the sanitation truck'?" explained Ms Young. She then described how the driver unhooked the hose, got back into the truck and drove off east, out of her sight.

She told her supervisor what she had seen, then got on the plane to search it as part of her duties. Around five minutes later, she said, the truck driver got on the plane himself to empty the trash.

She did not name the men she'd seen, but described them for the jury. She said the man who jumped from the plane's hold was around 5ft 7in tall, had a dark complexion and wore a green vest and dark baseball cap. He was in his early 20s.

The man driving the truck was around 5ft 10in tall, with a dark complexion, dark clothing and a green BAS vest. She also described him as wearing shades on his face and a baseball cap. He was in his 20s.

Defence lawyer Charles Richardson suggested to Ms Young that the man who later got on the plane to empty the trash was a different man, in different clothing, to the one who drove the truck. She disagreed, telling the court: "I'm sure it was the same person."

Bean is on bail and the case continues.