A man accused along with his uncle of importing $236,000 worth of cocaine in auto parts has spoken in court of his shock at being arrested.

Jahmiko Hayward, 22, said he had no idea a car bumper he picked up from the DHL courier office for his uncle had drugs in it — and claimed his apparent confession in a Police interview was the result of a misunderstanding, the Supreme Court heard.

Both he and his uncle, Shannon Dwayne Julian Tucker, deny the charge against them.

Supreme Court has previously heard how 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. Hayward was arrested on April 5, 2004 after picking up the second package, containing the bumper.

Giving evidence in his own defence yesterday, Hayward — who was 19 at the time of the alleged offence — said he and Tucker were “pretty close”.

In answer to questions from his lawyer, Allan Doughty, he said his uncle had been away in St. Martin, the Netherlands Antilles, during March and April of 2004.

Hayward, of Green Acres, Devonshire, told the jury his uncle did not tell him why he planned to send auto parts from St. Martin to Bermuda, but he did know that Tucker’s “ace girl” or girlfriend Malika owned the type of Sports Unility Vehicle (SUV) they might be intended for.

Hayward said his uncle, of Broken Hill Lane, Smiths, asked him to pick up two packages containing the parts from DHL in Church Street and keep them for him until he returned to Bermuda. He took the first parcel — containing side rails — to a house belonging to the girlfriend of a friend named Dimitri Tucker in Crawl.

He later returned to DHL and picked up the bumper bar, which he placed in a taxi.

He was arrested a short time afterwards by Police who had been staking out the courier’s office.

Asked by Mr. Doughty what was running through his mind at this point, he said: “Nothing really. I was thinking I was being caught up in something dumb. Something that I don’t know nothing about.”

After his arrest on suspicion of importing controlled drugs, he was taken to Hamilton Police Station where he was questioned by Det. Con. Trevor Knight and Det. Con. Devon Richardson.

Mr. Doughty asked him why when Det. Con. Richardson asked him “if you knew that those car parts contained drugs” he replied “yes”.

Hayward said this was because he was aware at that point there were drugs, because a Police officer had told him what he was arrested for.

Denying that he had any knowledge about the hidden drugs before his arrest, he said he had “misinterpreted”, Det. Con. Richardson’s question.

Hayward said that when he told his uncle about his arrest, Tucker’s response was one of shock, telling him: “I can’t believe that.”

Asked by Mr. Doughty if he had ever agreed to import drugs into Bermuda he said he did not.

When Tucker, who is representing himself, cross-examined his nephew, he asked him if a person called Malika Robertson, who owns a Suzuki SUV, gave her address to him so he could send the car parts to her. Hayward said yes.

Cross-examining Hayward, Senior Crown Counsel Paula Tyndale quizzed him further about this.

Hayward agreed the items shipped did not have Malika Robertson’s name on them.

He also agreed that he did not take the first package he picked up to her address or to Tucker’s house.

He further agreed that he had made nine calls to Tucker between 8 a.m. and 12.59 p.m. on the day he picked the packages up from DHL.

Ms Tyndale had told the jury at the start of the trial 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.

She told the jury the pair both knew and intended that the shipment should arrive in Bermuda containing drugs. The case continues.