Accused 'held cricketer's manbag'

Chris Lewis is jointly accused with ex-basketball player Chad Kirnon

A former basketball player jointly accused of smuggling cocaine into the UK has told how he carried a bag owned by ex-England cricketer Chris Lewis.

Chad Kirnon, 27, from Islington, north London, said Mr Lewis, 41, asked him to carry his "manbag" containing cash on their flight from Gatwick to St Lucia.

"I told him to put it in the backpack. It wasn't a big deal... just a little bag," he told Croydon Crown Court.

He and Mr Lewis, of Brent, London, deny conspiring to import cocaine last year.

The pair are accused of smuggling cocaine worth more than £140,000, which was found dissolved in the liquid contents of cans of fruit and vegetable juice when they arrived at Gatwick Airport on 8 December 2008.

He told me he had more money than would be allowed

Chad Kirnon

Mr Kirnon told the court on Wednesday that the pair sat separately on the outbound flight a week earlier and on arriving in St Lucia Mr Lewis had initially wanted his bag back, but had then told him to hold on to it.

Answering his defence counsel Brenda Campbell, Mr Kirnon said: "He told me to just hold it until we got outside.

"He told me he had more money than would be allowed. I didn't think it was a big deal at the time."

Mr Kirnon, of Carnegie Street, Islington, recalled how he was asked by airport customs officials if he had any money to declare and he said yes, but speculated there was only a few hundred pounds in the bag.

When the bag was opened it was found to contain £7,000 in seven separate £1,000 bundles, the court was told.

Eight tins

Mr Kirnon told officers the money was to help his uncle.

He claimed Mr Lewis, of Bruce Road, Brent, had earlier told him that if anything happened, to say that he was helping out his family.

He said he had not known how much money was in the bag when he had filled out a form.

He went on to tell the court that on the penultimate day of their week-long stay, Mr Lewis purchased eight tins of juice at a store and on later weighing his bag asked him to take three of them, which he did.

Mr Kirnon said that apart from two occasions during their stay in St Lucia, both men had spent their holiday together.

He recalled how on his return to the UK he was stopped by customs officers as he walked alone through the green channel.

'Little doubts'

He told officials he was not travelling with anyone else and had not been given anything.

Mr Kirnon told the court he was left "shocked" after officers searched the bag and informed him the tins of juice contained suspected drugs.

Asked why he did not mention Mr Lewis, he said he "had his own little doubts" but then thought "it could not possibly be" because he was a professional cricketer.

Jurors were told that while in custody after being charged with illegally importing class A drugs, Mr Kirnon said Mr Lewis had told him he knew about the drugs and had "done it before".

He claimed Mr Lewis had gone on to explain he had done the same thing in different locations including Grenada, Jamaica and Barbados.

All-rounder Mr Lewis, who was born in Guyana, played 32 Tests and 53 one-day internationals, later coming out of retirement to play for Surrey.

The trial continues.