A customs officer denied participating in a cannabis importation plot, saying there’s an innocent explanation for text messages that prosecutors say implicate him.Bromwin Thompson said when he realised messages from his friend Shannon Berkley related to a package of drugs, he “panicked” to the extent he deleted Mr Berkley’s number from his phone.Mr Thompson, 36, was working at the FedEx courier facility in Serpentine Road, Pembroke, in 2009 when two packages were discovered containing $54,725 of cannabis and cannabis resin.According to prosecutors, he conspired with Mr Berkley to import the drugs, and text messages and phone calls between the two show this. Prosecutor Nicole Smith has told the jury Mr Thompson’s role was to look out for the drug packages and intercept them.He denies two charges of conspiring with Mr Berkley to import drugs and one of possessing them with intent to supply.The first parcel in question was intercepted at the FedEx facility on May 20 2009. It contained a coffee machine and 98.4 grams of cannabis. It had been shipped from an address in Brooklyn, New York, to the Tio Pepe restaurant in Southampton.The jury has heard from restaurant manager Manual Sequeros that he had no knowledge of the package or its contents.After electing to give evidence in his own defence, Mr Thompson described Mr Berkley as “a good friend” he’d known for ten to fifteen years.Mr Thompson said Mr Berkley, 42, would sometimes ask him to verify whether packages had arrived at the FedEx depot.“A lot of people call me to ask if packages are arriving,” he told the jury. “There was nothing unusual about it.”The jury has heard Mr Berkley’s phone sent a text message on April 19 2009 to an overseas number giving the address of the Tio Pepe restaurant. Mr Thompson said the message was to a New York number, which is not familiar to him.He confirmed he received a call from Mr Berkley asking him to look for a package sent to Tio Pepe. He said Mr Berkley also sent him a text with the address and tracking number.He said he located paperwork relating to a package sent from Brooklyn to Tio Pepe which was said to contain a coffee maker.“At that point my customs antennas made me very aware of that package,” he told the jury. “At that point I found it very strange that Tio Pepe, being an Italian restaurant, ordered a coffee maker from Brooklyn, New York.”He said he informed Mr Berkley the package “looked suspicious” and that he’d highlighted it for inspection. His friend replied that “the package was for his boy and the package should be OK”.Nonetheless, Mr Thompson said: “I felt weird. I had a weird feeling in my stomach it wasn’t right.”He confirmed that he sent a text to Mr Berkley telling him: “Throw that SIM away before you go. If you good, get a new one for you. Don’t want them to take that if you don’t make it.”Asked by Mr Richardson to explain why he asked his friend to get rid of the SIM card from his phone, Mr Thompson said: “At that point I felt so uneasy about this package that I panicked.”He added: “I just wanted him to get rid of my number. I didn’t want to have no contact or background information with him if this package turned out to be positive.”He said he also erased Mr Berkley’s number from his own phone.Mr Thompson said he was the officer who ended up opening the package and discovering the drugs inside after two scans by an X-ray machine proved inconclusive and a senior officer instructed him to examine it further.After he found the drugs, he contacted the narcotics department.Asked by his lawyer why he did not inform his supervisors about what had gone on between him and Mr Berkley with respect to the package he replied: “At that point I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Do I turn my friend in or just hope that it goes away? I wasn’t going to let the drugs go on the street at all. I just hoped it would all blow away.”The second parcel in question was shipped from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, and uncovered by a sniffer dog at Bermuda’s LF Wade International Airport on June 4 2009. It was addressed to a man named Manuel Lima at the Paradise Gift Shop in St George and contained 497.9 grams of cannabis resin.The jury has heard evidence that Mr Lima died in March 2009. It has also heard from Terrence Roberts, owner of the gift shop, who said he has never been to Ethiopia and does not know Mr Lima.The jury has heard that Mr Berkley’s phone texted messages to an Ethiopian number on May 18 2009 with the address of the Paradise Gift Shop. Mr Thompson told the jury that had “nothing to do with me” and he was not aware of the messages.He added that he was not at work on the day the package arrived at FedEx, June 4 2009, and was not scheduled to work because he was at a union conference.Mr Thompson was arrested on July 17 2009 on suspicion of importing drugs. He told the jury he is no longer employed by HM Customs.Before he took the stand, the accused man was cleared by the jury on the instructions of the judge in relation to a fourth charge he faced, of official corruption. Mr Justice Greaves said there was no evidence to make out the charge, which alleged Mr Thompson corruptly received money through abusing his position as a customs officer.The case continues.