A courier package allegedly containing heroin was sent to a Sandys Parish man from a non-existent address in New York City, a Supreme Court jury heard yesterday.

Barry Eugene Rahman, 40, is charged with conspiring with others not before the court to import 72.04 grams of the drug, which was in three plastic bags, inside of a DHL box on August 29, 2006.

Rahman, of East Shore Road, denies the charge.

The court heard on Tuesday that Customs and Police officers intercepted the package, reportedly addressed to Rahman, at the LF Wade International Airport, where it was deemed as suspicious.

Inside the triangle-shaped box were florescent light bulbs, coloured in aqua and marine blue, plus three heat-sealed bags wrapped in carbon paper, which contained a brown-powdered substance.

The drugs were found to be 15 percent pure. Senior Crown counsel Carrington Mahoney is prosecuting, with Frank Phipps QC representing the defence, assisted by defence lawyer Ed Bailey.

In Supreme Court yesterday, Rahman restated that he had only accepted the package on behalf of his friend Kirt Grant.

It was said in court previously that officers had executed a search warrant on Rahman's home after allowing DHL to deliver the parcel to his home, with the drugs already accounted for.

Responding to whether or not officers would find any contraband or large sums of cash inside his apartment, Rahman told Police they would find "approximately" $27,000 in cash, inside.

However, Police said they found $43,350 from behind dresser drawers inside the room Rahman shared with his brothers, inside of at least two bags, consisting of US and Bermuda dollars. Police then seized it, the court heard.

Det. Con. Leroy Matherun, in charge of the investigation, told the court he and Det. Con. Clyde Robinson travelled to the Bronx, New York, to track down the supposed sender of the package, Kevin Jones.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) helped to coordinate their investigation, which lead them to 3746 White Plains Road, as listed on the airway bill.

However, the officers found no residence at that location, saying in court: "It does not exist."

Under cross-examination Mr. Mahoney asked Rahman why he gave his innocent grandmother, Gwendolyn Smith, $40 to accept the package for him on September 1, 2006.

"I wasn't aware of what the package was," Rahman told the court. "I was informed by Edward Richardson, one of my employees (on the day before) that a package was supposed to arrive at my residence.

"He told me that Kirt Grant told him a courier service was trying to deliver a package to me and I accepted a package."

Rahman said in court that he works as a self-employed landscaper, with his business called Four Corners Landscaping, employing one part-time employee and one full-time.

He also told the court of the day when officers visited his home and arrested him, following the DHL delivery: "On that day I went to work and came home around midday to take my granny shopping.

"After that I brought her back home. At about 3.30 that afternoon I had finished some work and came back home. I noticed the door was opened and noticed certain individuals in the house (grandmother's house)."

When he approached his grandmother's apartment to see what was going on, plain-clothes detectives questioned him and confronted him with the package, showing him the brown powder inside.

Subsequently, he was arrested on suspicion of importing a controlled substance and officers, armed with a search warrant, inspected his grandmother's home but found nothing, before searching Rahman's lower apartment.

Mr. Bailey asked his client to explain why he had the cash found inside his home.

Rahman said he paid his employees and sub contractors for his business with cash. He explained: "Over a period of time I accumulated it (the money) because I had about 70 something clients."

"Do you use the bank?" Mr. Bailey asked him under examination. "Yes, I have savings accounts at Bank of Bermuda, one at Bank of Butterfield, one at (Capital G Bank)¿ they're savings accounts," he replied.

"A lot of money I just keep on my own, it was from an eight-year period."

Rahman denied ever knowing anyone by the name of Kevin Jones and denied ever using the services of DHL.

He told the court earlier he assisted officers searching his apartment with gaining access to his room by unlocking it for them.

Mr. Mahoney asked him why he had the need to lock his room. "It was for safety reasons," Rahman explained. "So you had to keep your room a bit more secure than the rest of the house?" Mr. Mahoney alluded.

"Yes" Rahman conceded.

He said there were two keys to the room, one for him and the others for his brothers David and Andrew and one spare key, four keys in total.

He stated no one else in the house had a key. "You don't trust your mother to go in the room?" Mr. Mahoney further probed.

Rahman said he gave out his key to his parents if they needed to get in to clean or otherwise.

The trial continues.