A 37-year-old Pembroke man apologised to his crying grandmother after Police found a water heater containing an estimated $200,000 worth of cannabis stashed in her basement.

"Granny, I'm sorry. I sorry Granny,'' Gregory Ryan Ashby cried out after Police busted him at his Berkeley Road home last February.

Ashby's words were yesterday recounted by witnesses for the Crown on the first day of a Supreme Court trial. Ashby has denied importing almost ten pounds of cannabis between February 14 and 21, 1997. He has also denied possessing and handling cannabis with intent to supply on February 21, 1997.

Yesterday, the six-man, six-woman jury heard how Customs officials at Hamilton Docks X-rayed a toilet and a water heater addressed to a David DeSilva of Warwick on February 19, 1997.

Customs Officer Sean Pitcher told the court the X-ray showed there was nothing in the toilet, but that there was something in the water heater.

When the Police arrived and opened the 30-gallon electric water heater, they found slices of onions and a black plastic bag containing 11 packages.

Inside the packages was about ten pounds of plant material.

During cross examination by Archibald Warner, representing Ashby, Customs Officer Pitcher admitted that if anyone looked at the exterior of the boxes, no-one would have suspected "anything'' was in it.

"It was cleverly concealed in the water heater.'' He said the two boxes arrived in Bermuda in a container shipped from New York on board of the Oleander . The container held a number of items belonging to various people.

Custom Officer Pitcher conceded that on occasion, "people just walked up and collected freight from the Hamilton Dock''.

And he admitted that it was not an uncommon occurrence for thefts to take place from the docks.

Det. Sgt. Dennis Gordon told the jury that the Government analyst removed the 11 packages of plant material leaving only a sample in the heater.

It was resealed, placed back in its box and returned to the container.

Det. Sgt. Gordon said Ashby, who was driving a Bermuda Forwarders truck, was stopped on Berkeley Road in Pembroke shortly after noon on February 21, 1997.

Ashby was escorted back to Bermuda Forwarders' office where he was arrested for conspiring to import drugs.

Later that day, Ashby and the Police went to his Berkeley Road home where a search was conducted.

"He was fidgety and moved about,'' Det. Sgt. Gordon said. "A lady, his sister, went to a house about 20 feet away. She just kept coming and going back and forth.'' After speaking to Ashby's grandmother, who lived next door, Det. Sgt. Gordon said he went to her basement where he found the boxes containing the toilet and water heater.

Upon hearing that the Police found "what they were looking for'', Det. Sgt.

Gordon said Ashby told him: "You got me, you got lucky.'' When his grandmother began to cry, Ashby told her: "Granny I'm sorry. I sorry Granny.'' And Det. Sgt. Gordon said Ashby insisted that his grandmother did not "know anything about this''.

Under cross examination, Det. Con. Haden Small told the court that when he saw the toilet and heater boxes in the basement "they appeared to be in the same condition as when I last saw them''.

He testified that he last saw the boxes on the dock when they had been resealed to look like new.

The case continues tomorrow before Chief Justice Austin Ward, with Peter Eccles appearing for the Crown and Mr. Warner appearing for Ashby.