A man accused of a cannabis smuggling plot told the Supreme Court he had no idea the package he picked up contained drugs.

Melvin Simmons said he agreed to collect a piece of furniture for his co-defendant, Kanhai Armstrong, and threw the item away at Tynes Bay after Mr Armstrong said it was not what he had ordered.

Asked if he knew anything about the package containing cannabis or any other kind of drug, he said: “I had no idea of any of it at all.”

Mr Simmons and Mr Armstrong have both denied charges that they conspired with others to import cannabis into Bermuda and sell the controlled drug on an unknown date before August 5, 2020.

The court previously heard that 11 heat-sealed packages of plantlike material were found by customs officers on that date, hidden inside an ottoman shipped to the island under the name “Calvin Wade”.

The packages were found to contain a total of 6,167.6g of cannabis, which could fetch as much as $308,000 if sold on the streets of Bermuda.

After the drugs were removed, the ottoman was put back into its box and returned to customs.

The package was collected from Best Shipping by Mr Simmons on August 10, and the ottoman was subsequently found torn open at the Tynes Bay tipping area.

As the trial continued yesterday, Mr Simmons said that on August 7 he ran into Mr Armstrong, whom he knew because they had previously worked together.

“He asked me if I could pick something up from Best Shipping,” he said.

“I think it was we were in passing and he flagged me down and asked me. I can’t recall exactly.”

Mr Simmons said he had asked Mr Armstrong what was in the package and was told it was a piece of furniture.

“He had the paperwork,” he continued. “I asked if everything was in order and he said yes.”

He said he did not think much of the request, telling the court that he had used his work van to move furniture before, during windows of time between jobs.

Mr Simmons said he drove to work on August 10 and spoke with Mr Armstrong in the parking area.

Shown CCTV footage from the parking area, he said he could not recall exactly what was happening, but he believed he was making sure that everything needed to collect the package was in order.

After picking up the package from Best Shipping, he said he returned to the parking lot and was again met by Mr Armstrong, who went into the back of the van.

Mr Simmons said that while he was looking for his scanner for his next job, he heard the sound of ripping cardboard coming from the back of the van.

“I was looking between the seat to where I could see into the back,” he said. “He had his back to me. I couldn’t see exactly what he was doing.”

He said that Mr Armstrong told him the furniture was not what he had ordered and someone must have messed up.

“I wasn’t taking it back to Best Shipping because it was open,” he said. “He told me to get rid of it; throw it away.”

He said he went to Tynes Bay and, as he was picking up the bottom half of the box that still contained the ottoman, he noticed a bag of sand fall out.

Mr Simmons said he picked up three bags of sand and put them in a paper bag he saw on the ground.

“My apartment was a shambles,” he said. “I do masonry work, so I saw an opportunity for free sand and I took it.”

He told the court he later went back to his workplace’s warehouse and put the bag with the sand on a shelf before leaving for his next job, which was delivering empty boxes to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

However, he was arrested on suspicion of drugs offences and subsequently held in custody for three days before being released.

Under cross-examination by Marc Daniels, counsel for Mr Armstrong, Mr Simmons said that he had a family connection with his co-defendant as he had a child with Mr Armstrong’s cousin.

He agreed that during the August 7 conversation, Mr Armstrong had asked him if he could collect something for a family member because he did not have a car or a van.

Mr Simmons also said that after his arrest he spoke with his co-defendant about what had happened.

He agreed that Mr Armstrong had said he was surprised and that he would try to speak with family members to find out what was going on.

Questioned by the Crown, Mr Simmons said he did not know why he did not mention Mr Armstrong had told him the package was for a family member, and accepted that he was expecting to be paid for the favour.

However, he said he never received any payment, nor did he ask for it.

Mr Simmons also said that while he did have a family connection with Mr Armstrong, he was not aware of him being related to anyone named Calvin Wade.

The trial continues.

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