Plain-clothes Police officers who followed a truck which contained half a million dollars worth of cannabis gave Supreme Court details of the surveillance yesterday.

Brothers David and Noel Ottley and Otis Burt Ingham each stand accused of possession of cannabis with intent to supply and of handling the drug with intent to supply on May 27, 1998.

The court has heard that 10,181 grammes of cannabis were hidden inside a drill bracket which was in a package addressed to Boyles Excavation on Quarry Hill Road in Warwick.

Customs and Police seized the package on May 22 from Bermuda International Airport and opened the bracket to discover 23 packages of cannabis. The bracket was resealed with fake packets inside it and a Police surveillance unit was notified when it was collected on May 27.

Yesterday the officers who were involved in monitoring the package's movement testified.

Det. Sgt. Craig Morfitt said he caught sight of the intermediate van with licence number IN1691 while he was stationed near the St. David's roundabout.

He said he saw pieces of wood and black plastic sheeting in the rear of the truck but was unable to see who was in the cab section of the vehicle.

Det. Sgt. Morfitt said he followed the truck but had to pass it when it pulled over onto a verge at the side of the road "where it reversed toward a second truck also parked on the verge''. P.c. Irvin Hendrickson said he followed the truck east on St. David's Road on a motorcycle.

He said he saw three people in the cab section of the vehicle and recognised one as Ingham.

He said he passed the truck later, when he was riding west on Kindley Field Road, but noted that it overtook him near Stonecrusher Corner.

"It was at this time Otis Ingham leaned out of the window and spoke to me,'' he said. "It was just a greeting.'' P.c. Hendrickson said he followed the truck until it turned into the driveway of the Palmetto Palms Seniors Home on North Shore in Smith's Parish.

Det. Con. David Garrity said he saw two males in the cab of the truck when it stopped at Terceira's Shell Service Station on North Shore in Smith's.

"I observed the passenger leave the vehicle and go back and forth to the rear of the gas station on a number of occasions,'' he said.

Det. Con. Trevor Knight was travelling in an unmarked Police van with three other officers around 6 p.m. when he was told to go to the Lighthouse Road home of the Ottley brothers.

"At that location the truck was in the driveway,'' he said. "We went onto the property and saw the three men coming from a wooded area on the northeast side of the property.

"They attempted to get away,'' he added. "They were all apprehended and detained.''