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CO Rodill2

Statement of Hillary Rodill (Customs Officer)

I am a Customs Officer employed by the Bermuda Government.  I am currently attached to the Strategic Reinforcement Group.  My duties consist of examining passengers and cargo for contraband.  I cover all Ports of Entry into Bermuda.

At 2.45 pm on Wednesday March 28 1990 I was on duty at the Civil Air Terminal.  I was engaged in examining cargo inside the freight shed.  I had a conversation with DC Bourne of the Bermuda Police.  I saw two brown cardboard boxes, they were on a pallet underneath shelf number B23 in the North Eastern part of the freight shed. 

The writing on the boxes indicated that they were both twenty six inch G.E. Colour Televisions.

I could see that the boxes were secured with large industrial type staples.  I noticed that on one of the boxes, I`m not sure which, some of the staples were missing, I could see the holes where the staples had been.  I also noticed that on both boxes all the seams on the lids at the top of the boxes had been sealed with more than one layer of clear adhesive tape.

 I then had a conversation with Customs Officer Pitcher who was also on duty in the freight shed.  I then returned to the boxes.

I opened one of the boxes by pulling the flaps on the top, this pulled out the staples.  I cut the tape that held the seams.  I noticed that it was hard to open the box as the flap were glued closed.  I could see that a lot of glue had been put on the flaps, it was green in colour.  There was a very strong smell coming from the box, it smelt like glue.  Inside the box I could see what appeared to be a console television.  It was packed inside the box with styrofoam and brown cardboard, also inside the box was a brown envelope and a clear plastic bag.  I then used a knife to pry the back of the television away from the main body of it, I shined a flashlight inside it and I saw some grey coloured duct tape.

 I immediately called Acting Senior C/O Pitcher to assist me.  I had a conversation with him and I saw him examine the television in the same way I did.  I then opened the other brown cardboard box that was on the pallet.  I noticed that this box was sealed in a similar way to the first, the only difference was that there were no staples missing from this one.  The box was hard to open and I could see that it had been sealed with the same green coloured glue.  The television inside the box appeared to be the same as the first one and was packed in a similar fashion.  I looked inside this television in the same manner as the first and I again saw duct tape, grey in colour.  I saw Acting Senior C/O Pitcher examine the inside of the television.  During our examination of the televisions there were several people working in the freight shed.  I then sealed both boxes with Customs tape.  That is a white coloured tape bearing a Customs logo.  I then moved away from the boxes and went to the Customs office in the freight shed where I had a conversation with C/O Davis.  At this time I had both boxes in my view.         

 At 3.30 pm the same day I left the freight shed.  During my examination of the boxes I noticed that they both had "U.S. AIR" labels on them, the labels had "JIMMY HARVEY, 36 MORGANS ROAD, WARWICK 809 2360881" written on them.

 At 5.10 pm the same day in company with Acting Senior C/O Pitcher, C/O Simons, I returned to the freight shed.  The freight shed was still open at this time, I saw DS McLean, DC Bourne, DC Providence, SC Simmons and several other Customs Officers at the freight shed.

 At 5.25 pm the only people left in the freight shed were Police and Customs Officers and I commenced opening the box that I had opened first earlier that day.  After opening the box I removed from it a G.E. twenty six inch colour television model number 26GC415 serial number 945560102.

 DC Providence took a photograph of the television.  I then removed five screws from the rear of the television, I noticed that the screws were not all the same.  I then released four quick release retainers by twisting them ninety degrees, this allowed me to remove the back from the television.  I could see that the back of the television had a sheet of metal attached to it and held in place with four eye hooks.  This prevented anyone from seeing inside the television via the air vents.  I also saw four packages wrapped in duct tape pushed inside the television.  DC Providence then took more photographs.  I then removed two packages from the rear of the television on the right hand  side.  I could see that on the first package I removed, the logo "11 GLS" was written twice in red ink.  I then removed the two packages that were on the left hand side.  I could see that they were held in place with wire and nails.  I could see that on both these packages the logo "11 GLS" was written in red and blue ink.  I also noticed that the last package I removed had a piece of cardboard forced into the side of it.  I saw the following written on the cardboard "05464169 11 CR64 1-4832-9 OC07".  There was also a piece of tape stuck to the cardboard that had the following written on it "B 28 = 8½ (S)"  the last figure is an `S` enclosed in a circle.  I then handed the four packages to SC Simmons who placed them in a trash bag.  I then placed the back onto the television and secured it.  I then removed the second television from its box it was packaged in an identical fashion to the first.  I noticed that this was a 26" GE colour television console model.  Model number 26GC415 serial number 945560078.  I removed five screws from the back of the television and released four quick release containers, I noticed that the five screws of different designs were not in the same positions as on the first television.  I then removed the back from the television. 

 I could see that on the back of the television was a sheet of metal held in place with four eye hooks.  This covered the air vents on the back.  Inside the television were two packages wrapped in duct tape, they were larger than the four in the first television.

 I removed the packages on the left hand side of the television I could see that it had "15GL" written on it in blue ink.  I then removed the packages on the right hand side.  I could see that it had a piece of cardboard pushed into it on the underside, written on the cardboard was "MR89512".  I could see that the parcel also had some  writing on it in blue ink it said "16¼ GL".  I then handed both packages to Special Constable Simmons who placed it in a trash bag.

 At 6.29 pm I left the freight shed.

 At 7.00 pm the same day I went to the Narcotics Office at Prospect.  At this time I was with C/O`s Pitcher and Simons.  At the Narcotics Office I saw SC Simmons, DC Bourne, DS McLean and DC Providence. 

 At 7.40 pm the same day in company with DC Bourne I returned to the freight shed and collected the two G.E. television sets and the boxes.  I took them to the Narcotics Office arriving there at 8.15 pm.

 C/O Pitcher handed me five brown paper bags, each bag was sealed with adhesive tape.  I could see that two of the bags had some red "EVIDENCE" tape stuck to them.  I wrapped the five packages with grey duct tape in a similar fashion to the packages I had removed from the televisions.  I saw C/O Pitcher write an `S` enclosed in a circle on the two packages that had the red evidence tape inside them.

 At 9.38 pm the same day I placed two of the packages inside G.E. television serial number 945560078.  One of the packages had the strip of "EVIDENCE" tape inside it and the `S` enclosed in a circle written on it.  DC Providence then took photographs.  I placed the back of the television and returned it to its box.  I sealed the box with Customs tape.

 I then placed three of the packages in the rear of the television number 945560102.  One of the packages had the red evidence tape inside it and the `S` enclosed in a circle  written on it.  DC Providence took photographs.  I returned the television to its box and sealed it with Customs tape.  I then handed both boxes and their contents to SC Simmons.

 Statement recorded between 9.15 am and 12.30 pm.  8.5.80 at Narcotics Office by DS Rollin. 

Further to my statement dated May 8th 1990 at 3.40pm on Thursday March 29 1990 I went to the Scenes of Crime Office at Police Headquarters, Prospect.  At this time I was in company with Customs Officers Pitcher and Simons.

 At the Scenes of Crime Office I saw Detective Sergeant Cassidy, Detective Constable Providence and Keith Fryer, a Government Analyst.

 I saw the six packages that I had removed from the television sets on March 28th 1990, four of the packages had been cut open exposing the contents, plant material.  I saw Mr Fryer remove the plant material from the duct tape packaging.  I noticed that two of the packages had what appeared to be fabric softner paper inside the duct tape.  Mr Fryer then weighed the plant material and took representative samples.

 I saw D.S. Cassidy cut open the duct tape on the remaining two packages.  I could see that they also contained plant material.  Mr Fryer removed the plant material, weighed it  and took representative samples.  At 4.30pm the same day I left the Scenes of Crime Office.

 I recognised the six packages as the ones I had removed from the television sets as a result of the writing, that I described in my previous statement, on the outside of the packages.

       Hillary M. Rodill #66

 Statement recorded between 1000 and 1010 5.6.90 at Police HQ`s by D.S. Rollin.

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