Detectives who raided a house where heroin was being bagged did not take fingerprints of the equipment used, a Supreme Court trial heard yesterday.

The only fingerprints taken at the apartment in King's Gate Lane, Pembroke, were of a window pane and were used to link Damon Kujal Simons, 23, to the crime scene.

Simons, of First Avenue, and Jamel Tito Smith, 22, of West Park Lane, both Pembroke, deny possessing 19.89 grammes of heroin with intent to supply on February 12 last year.

They have also pleaded not guilty to obstructing Police and possessing drug equipment, while Simons denies possessing 12.1 grammes of cocaine with intent to supply. Det. Con. Robert Cardwell testified on Monday that when Police raided the studio apartment, they found a table covered with clear plastic bags filled with white powder, plastic twists, electric scales, spoons and razors.

More of the powder was found in the bathroom and the toilet had just been flushed. The total value of the drugs seized was more than $140,000.

Det. Con. Cardwell said Simons dropped his mobile telephone and escaped through a window, also dropping a bag of cocaine on the ground as he was fleeing. He was arrested later in Happy Valley Road.

Under cross-examination yesterday from Simons' lawyer Mark Pettingill, Det.

Con. Cardwell agreed that the Police pictures appeared to show that detectives had interrupted the measuring and bagging of the drugs.

When asked why the scales, which were in a box, were not fingerprinted, he replied: "The scales were sent to the Government (drugs) analyst and washed.

Now that's been done you probably won't get prints from it.'' Mr. Pettingill said: "Come on now, we know the game. The first thing you do is you take the bag and scales and very carefully, before you take the washings, you check for fingerprints.'' The officer replied: "One or the other.'' Det. Con. Cardwell, in charge of the operation, said he did not instruct any of his officers to fingerprint any other parts of the house because both defendants had legitimate access to the house and their prints were bound to be all over the property.

When asked why he ordered the window to be fingerprinted, he said it was to corroborate Simons. Mr. Pettingill said: "I would suggest the reason to do that would be to tidy things up.'' Det. Con. Cardwell replied: "There was no tidying required. This is as good as it comes.'' Under cross-examination from Smith's lawyer Elizabeth Christopher, Det. Con.

Cardwell said Smith was wearing a Pure Water shirt and was eating his lunch.

He said this did not confirm to him that Smith was taking a lunch break from work.

Scenes of Crime officer Det. Con. Jewel Hayward said he made a "typographical mistake'' when he mentioned in his statement seeing wrapped up "plant material'' at the apartment.

The officer, who took photographs of the crime scene, did not agree with Mr.

Pettingill that stating plant material was at the scene was more than a typographical error.

Det. Con. Hayward said he used a "stencil'' in his word processor to produce his court statements and just changed some of the details. He rejected a suggestion from Mr. Pettingill that by the time he made his statement -- four months after the raid -- he would have known details about what the case was about.

Mr. Pettingill asked: "Are you sure that when you were photographing this, perhaps there wasn't also a bag of plant material you saw?'' Det. Con. Hayward replied: "No''. Puisne Judge Norma Wade-Miller dismissed the jury for the afternoon to consider legal submissions regarding identification of one suspect. The trial continues today.