A stash of cocaine discovered in auto parts flown into Bermuda had a street value of almost quarter of a million dollars, a jury has heard.

They also heard how courier firm DHL accidentally released a package to a customer that was part of the Police investigation into this.

Jahmiko Hayward and his uncle, Shannon Dwayne Julian Tucker, are accused of conspiring to import cocaine. They deny this.

Two packages were intercepted at Bermuda International Airport by the Police in 2004. The first contained side rails for a vehicle and the second a bumper with cocaine hidden inside. The cocaine was removed from the bumper and replaced with a dummy package by the Police before both packages were put back into circulation at DHL, the jury in the Supreme Court trial has heard.

Hayward was arrested on April 5 2004 after picking up the second package, containing the bumper, from the couriers.

During the case yesterday, Allan Doughty, defending Hayward, accused Detective Constable Devon Richardson of losing the first of two packages Hayward picked up.

Denying the loss was the fault of the Police, Det. Con. Richardson explained: "When that first package containing the side rails was collected it was not in Police custody. It was at the DHL couriers in Church Street."

She explained she had received a phone call from the Operations Manager at that firm on April 5 "to tell me that first package containing the side rails had been released accidentally to a person representing himself to be Shannon Tucker."

She confirmed the side rail package had never contained any drugs or dummy packages.

The lawyer put it to Det. Con Richardson that in the initial interview with Hayward after his arrest, in asking him about matters other than the whereabouts of the missing side rail: "You were really trying to have him incriminate himself."

She denied this, and said Hayward had been advised that he did not need to answer any questions.

Mr. Doughty pointed out that during this interview, Det. Con. Richardson asked Hayward whether he was aware drugs were concealed in a car part he was to pick up for Tucker.

According to Det. Con. Richardson's earlier evidence, Hayward's reply was: "Yeah, but I was just picking that stuff up for my uncle."

Quizzing the detective about about this, Mr. Doughty said his client's answer "appeared to be an affirmative" and went on to say the interview had been conducted before Hayward was informed of the right to have a lawyer.

The officer repeated that the accused man did not have to answer questions.

Tucker, defending himself, claimed he had been suffering from symptoms of drug withdrawal at the time of a Police interview about the case. Det. Con Richardson denied this.

In her evidence, Government analyst Dr. Desiree Spriggs said the cocaine weighed a total of 890 grams and was of 68 percent purity. The next witness for the crown, Detective Sergeant Hayden Small, an expert on the value of controlled drugs in Bermuda, said the cocaine had a street value of $236,500.

Senior Crown Counsel Paula Tyndale told the jury at the start of the trial that the auto parts in question were bought in St. Martin and shipped to Bermuda. Ms Tyndale said Hayward went to claim the two-part shipment when it arrived in Bermuda, claiming to be Tucker. She also said that between March 2004 and April 2004 there was correspondence between the two defendants, and between Hayward and DHL's office in Bermuda, to get the shipment from the Caribbean. Ms Tyndale told the jury the pair both knew and intended that the shipment should arrive in Bermuda containing drugs.

Hayward, of Green Acres, Devonshire, and Tucker, of Broken Hill Lane, Smith's, deny the charges. The case continues.