Common threads appear to link a man accused of importing freebase cocaine inside his wheelchair with a local man he claimed he did not know, the Supreme Court heard yesterday.

Jamaica resident, Patrick Scarlett, 41, is accused of importing 1,703 grams of cocaine with intent to supply on October 24 last year.

He was apprehended at Bermuda International Airport, after arriving on an American Airlines flight from New York, when it was discovered that the frame of his wheelchair contained the controlled drug in powder form.

One of several Crown witnesses, Detective Constable Windol Thorpe, spent most of the morning on the stand corroborating the testimony of Customs Officer Terry Anne Smith, which was heard on Monday.

During cross-examination, defence lawyer Victoria Pearman grilled the detective on the relationship between the accused and his alleged connection on the Island.

Earlier testimony revealed that a piece of paper with the name of Bermuda resident Anthony Dyer, his address and telephone number, was found among Scarlett's travel documents.

When Det. Con. Thorpe was asked whether the accused admitted he knew the man, he said that Scarlett indicated that he did not, but that he was a friend of his nephew's. The statement Scarlett made to Det. Con. Thorpe also revealed that this nephew had arranged for his wheelchair to be fixed and had purchased his plane ticket to Bermuda.

The case continues today before Assistant Justice Charles-Etta Simmons.