In the dictionary, his surname carries the meaning of luck, but for 24-year-old Mario Fortune, his first trip to Jamaica has brought him much 'misfortune'.

The on-call security officer of Brooklyn, United States, was remanded on Tuesday when he appeared before the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court to answer to drug possession charges.

He pleaded not guilty to possession, dealing in and attempting to export ganja disguised as dasheen, claiming that he had no knowledge that the food items contained contraband.

"If you'd seen them (dasheens) you'd have been just as naive as me, they looked like real dasheen," he told RM Winsome Henry.

Fortune told the court that a friend asked him to take back dasheens and mango for his (friend's) sick mother. He told the investigating officer that he paid US$50 for the items in Portland.

He was advised to seek legal representation and was remanded until June 17 as the court awaits a forensic report.