A yachtsman accused of plotting to smuggle a cargo of cannabis resin into Britain told an Exeter court yesterday he thought the vessel was carrying fake drugs. Skipper Mr David Huck said he thought he was delivering "duff cannabis" to a high seas rendezvous to enable the man who hired him to get his money back after being cheated.
Mr Huck (51), of no fixed address, is one of nine men on trial at Exeter Crown Court accused of conspiring to smuggle cannabis resin into the UK between November 1995 and October 1996.
The Crown alleged that the yacht was carrying about four tonnes of cannabis resin from Morocco for delivery to other gang members waiting in Falmouth, Cornwall.
Mr Huck was one of four people arrested by customs men who boarded the yacht from a Royal Navy ship. The defendant said he was told it was not possible to inspect the cargo as it was being prepared in Morocco but he could drill into the bales to test it. After sailing from Soto Grande, Spain, he picked up the cargo off Morocco. Later, at sea, he drilled into a number of bales. He said the matter he rubbed between his fingers was henna.
The trial continues today.