A foreign cruise ship worker was unable to get a lawyer after he was arrested on drugs charges because he did not believe he could afford one, a Magistrate has heard.

Yangustanta Bramada, an Indonesian who worked as a baker on the Zenith , was arrested with fellow cruise ship worker Lennox Lorraine Afflick, a Jamaican, and Clinton Alphonso Wright, a Jamaican resident in Bermuda, on July 24.

All three were charged with supplying 240.3 grams of cocaine worth $45,000 and an alternative charge of handling with intent to supply.

Wright pleaded guilty to handling the drugs and was jailed for four years in September.

Magistrate Archibald Warner heard on Thursday that Bramada was interviewed at length twice throughout July 27 at Hamilton Police Station without a solicitor.

When asked by his lawyer, Elizabeth Christopher, why he did not have legal representation, Bramada said: "When they took all my money from the boat, I could not get it back.

"If I called a lawyer I would have to pay, and I do not have any money.

Before the second interview when I asked if I could call a lawyer, I asked (Special Constable Edward) Lambert should I pay for it.

"He said `yes, you will pay plenty of money'. I decided I can't call the lawyer because I don't have money.'' Bramada, 23, said he was a Muslim who had to pray five times a day and he felt "dirty'' because he could not have a bath or a tissue to clean himself before praying.

"It was my first time in my life I had been in jail and I felt confused and afraid,'' he said.

"I felt dirty because I could not take a bath and had no tissues. I should have cleaned myself until I was very, very clean. Without that I cannot pray.'' Bramada, who speaks some English, said he did not understand some of the things said to him during Police interview, and said he "guessed'' the meaning of "free will'.

Afflick, 40, is represented by Victoria Pearman and Juan Wolffe appears for the Crown.