A man accused of importing $302,000 worth of liquid cocaine refused to tell the Police details of phone calls he believes led to him being set up.

However, Edward Shawn Dill indicated that the plot he believes he fell victim to may have involved someone working at the airport.

The drugs were found inside a bottle of body lotion and skin lotion in a bag belonging to him after he arrived on a flight from New York last August 30.

His Supreme Court trial heard on Monday how he looked at his bag on the luggage belt at the airport but failed to retrieve it, and reported it missing instead. His suspicious behaviour attracted the attention of the authorities, and he was arrested.

Dill, 40, of Sunset Lane, Pembroke, has pleaded not guilty to importing the cocaine and possessing it with intent to supply.

Yesterday, the jury heard a tape of a Police interview conducted with Dill the day after his arrest. He told Detective Constable Shannon Swann and Special Constable Aylynn Pitcher of the Narcotics Unit that his friend from Bermuda, Jamul Wilkinson, paid for his trip to New York. He met Mr. Wilkinson in New York after flying there on July 23.

He went on to explain that he did not pick his Nike bag up from the luggage belt at the airport upon his return to Bermuda because it had a lock that he'd not put on it and thought "that something isn't right".

Asked by the detective what he was referring to, Dill replied: "A conversation that I had with somebody and basically it was indicated that a mark or a lock would be placed on my bag and I didn't really know what to do when I saw it. My heart skipped a beat and I sat there and tried to think 'what is the best thing to do in this case'?"

Dill went on to say that the conversation was one he had with a Bermudian on his cell phone on July 27, 2008, while he was in New Jersey.

He told the detective that during the conversation, it was indicated what a lock on his bag at the airport would mean. He declined to tell the detective what, but said the lock caused him concern.

He explained that during the conversation he was told he wasn't supposed to see the lock, and its purpose was so that another person or persons referred to by the other party as "my people" would know about the bag.

Det. Con. Swann asked him: "So did it lead you to believe that someone outside working on the (airport) ramp (had) something to do with your bag?"

Dill replied: "Somewhere outside." He went on to tell the officer that he was offered $5,000 for his role in what had been discussed but said 'no', and told the caller that he didn't want anything to do with the plan.

Dill declined to give any further information about the conversation. He explained that he decided to report his bag missing then leave the airport, but was arrested.

The jury heard a tape of a further Police interview the following day, in which Dill told the Police he'd made "false and untrue statements" in the previous interview "and I sincerely wish to have anything and everything that I said thus far stricken from the record."

Cross examining Det. Con. Swann, defence lawyer Marc Daniels asked why he'd questioned Dill about his knowledge of the names Maxwell Curtis, and Jermaine Butterfield neither of whom he'd heard of.

The detective said Mr. Butterfield was commonly known on the streets as "Bigs" and is someone associated "with this particular type of trafficking". He said he just threw the name out there during the interview to see how Dill responded.

In answer to further questions, the officer told the court he'd had a conversation in the back of a Police car with Dill during the investigation, in which Dill had told him he was "a small fish in a big pond in this game".

Det. Con. Swann continued: "He further stated 'if you guys want the big fish, just fingerprint the bottles that's in my bag and you will find who that is'. I then said to him I dealt with a similar case months earlier and that I had my suspicions of who the person was behind that at that time."

"He asked 'who' and I responded 'Bigs'. I told him from that point if he wished to assist us he should seek legal counsel so that we could do it in the proper form."

The court heard on Monday from Police officer Mervin Sealy that fingerprints were found on the bottles but were found by an expert to have "insufficient evidential value".

Det. Con Swann told the court that Maxwell Curtis was an Aircraft Services Bermuda baggage handler who had been seen by Special Constable Pitcher outside his usual area of the airport during the investigation.

When Mr. Daniels asked if there was any link between Mr. Curtis and Mr. Butterfield that he was aware of, the detective said that he did not want to answer the question due to investigations. He confirmed that he did not investigate any Aircraft Services Bermuda employee as part of the inquiry. The officer also told the court that Jamul Wilkinson was not a suspect in the case.

Taking the stand at the end of the day, Dill began evidence in his own defence by saying Mr. Wilkinson was an old school friend who'd offered to pay for them both to take a trip to New York, having won $500,000 playing the slot machines in Las Vegas the previous year.

He explained that Mr. Wilkinson's travel at that time was subject to a "Police waiver" as he'd been caught with narcotics and was due to go on trial.

The case continues.