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Drug importation jury hears package was addressed to dead man

Bromwin Thompson

A FedEx package containing 98.54 grams of cannabis was addressed to a man who died of cancer three months earlier, a Supreme Court jury heard.Evidence in the trial of Bromwin Thompson, 36, a former customs officer charged with importing drugs, was heard before Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves.Mr Thompson, of Granaway Heights, Southampton, was originally charged with two counts of inspiring to import cannabis resin, however prosecutor Nicole Smith amended a charge to read cannabis.In addition he faces one count of possessing drugs with intent to supply and one count of official corruption. Mr Thompson, who is represented by defence lawyer Charles Richardson, has denied all four counts.The court heard that Police Sergeant Roger Saints inspected packages off a cargo jet at L.F.Wade International Airport with the help of a canine sniffer dog on June 4, 2009.The dog was alerted to the odor of a controlled drug in one of the FedEx packages.The paperwork attached said the package was shipped from Taj PLC in Ethiopia. It was addressed to a man named Manuel Lima, of Paradise Gift Shop in King’s Square, St George’s.According to Sgt Saints’ statement, the package contained three books; one about in-line skating, another about snowboarding and a third on cricketing, but the book covers were all thicker than normal.The items were taken to the Narcotics Division, where Detective Constable O’Neil Swaby discovered separate packages containing drugs concealed within each book cover.Police took a statement from the owner of the Paradise Gift Shop, Terrence Roberts, on March 3 last year.Mr Roberts said he had been involved with the shop since the mid-1970s when it was opened.He has never travelled to, or known anyone who lives in Ethiopia, he said.He also said he had no knowledge of anyone by the name of Manuel Lima and said, in his statement, no one by that name had ever been employed at the store.A woman named Mary Martin told Police that she was the neighbour and friend of a Manuel Lima, whose phone number matched the one attached to the package.She said Mr Lima lived at a property across the street from hers, but was diagnosed with cancer in 2003. Since that time, he had been back and forth between Boston and Bermuda for medical treatment, and died in March 2009.The case continues in Supreme Court today.