liners may deliver thousands of guests, they also provide a vehicle for drug traffickers to bring in their illicit cargo. Reporter Karen Smith examines how law enforcement agencies have prepared for the months ahead.

Narcotics and Customs officers were full steam ahead from yesterday morning after Bermuda signalled its first official day of the cruise ship season.

Feeling enthused and motivated after a hugely successful start to the year in which more than $8.3 million worth of drugs have already been seized, they sent a stark warning to anyone considering bringing narcotics into the country.

Principal Customs Officer William Pearman said both Customs and Police officers travelled to New York earlier this year to meet with cruise ship managers to talk about interdiction and how searches can best be carried out, among other things.

And with additional rummage (search) training for staff over the closed season and a better working relationship between Police and Customs being established, he said all attempts will be made to capture drug mules visiting the Island.

Mr. Pearman said a policy of zero tolerance was being applied to drug smugglers in Bermuda and anyone desperate enough to try their luck could find themselves in Westgate Prison for a number of years.

He said: "All of our officers are rummage trained, and, accompanied by dogs, we will be carrying out random rummages throughout the entire season.'' However, Assistant Collector of Customs Larry Conn said drug interdiction was not just about rummaging vessels. He said in Bermuda intelligence was beginning to play a role more and more.

He said: "We are trying to do more with less and are trying to focus and better utilise our staff.

"Every cruise ship that comes in this season will be rummaged at least once, but we can't be in all places at all times, therefore we have to use the information we receive, as well as assess the potential risks.'' During their careers, the two officers said they had previously come across numerous ways of smuggling drugs into countries.

They said they had found drugs concealed in golf clubs, in the ice machine in the dining hall of a ship, and under the stage in the main theatre hall of another liner.

All of them clever ideas, but not quite clever enough.

But Mr. Conn said it was very rarely the powerful drug barons that were caught red-handed. He warned those thinking of smuggling drugs into Bermuda that it was generally the man at the end of the line, the person receiving the smallest cash reward, that ended up in court.

Last year Customs was involved in the interdiction of $5.5 million drugs, much of it cocaine and cannabis.

And about $2 million of that was down to help from the crime-busting organisation Crime Stoppers.

The majority of it was also brought in on cruise ships.

Crime Stoppers co-ordinator Alex MacDonald said he wanted to appeal to crew members on board the ships, who are often targeted by drug barons overseas and pushed into smuggling.

And he said for those low-paid ship workers, the chance to make some extra money may be tempting, but he warned them to walk away.

He said the financial reward would never be worth a stint in prison.

Mr. MacDonald said: "Bringing drugs into Bermuda, no matter how small, would land them in court, if not jail.

"I want to warn them that there will be people out there in the community, possibly overseas, who will approach them and offer them vast sums of money if they smuggle drugs to Bermuda.

"If they are tempted, I want them to know that Bermuda has the latest equipment and they are likely to be caught -maybe not the first time, but after that.'' Mr. Pearman said both Customs and Crime Stoppers would be going on board the ships within the next few weeks to talk to crew members about the dangers of trafficking drugs.

But the Customs officers said no matter how many warnings they issued this year, they were still expecting to find some very stupid and very greedy crew members looking to make a quick buck.

Mr. Pearman added: "It's difficult to know how much comes in -- we will never know.

"We would like to think we are catching at least 30 percent, but we have no proof of that.

"In many countries, interdiction is much lower than that. In Canada it is only about ten percent.

"However, Bermuda is small with only a small population and we wonder how much the community can absorb. Can the community absorb that other 70 percent? I really don't think so.

"Looking at it that way would lead us to believe that we maybe did better than 30 percent last year.'' But Mr. Pearman said he did not believe the decision to remove Customs officers from the cruise ship terminals and replace them with security staff led to a decline in seizures - if anything it improved the situation, he said.

He added: "When the officers were on the gangways, the seizures were not that high in any case.

"We had some passenger seizures, but in terms of bulk, they were not very high.

"The change in policy has enabled Customs officers to do other things instead.

"If anything, it forced us to have a clear look at the cruise ships, and it also allowed us to work more closely on cruise ships with the Police.'' Head of Police narcotics Detective Chief Inspector Larry Smith told The Royal Gazette this week that he believed Bermuda had a big drugs problem after $8.3 million worth were seized in just three-and-a-half months.

The total seizure for the whole of last year was just over $7 million.

He said that, despite the major hauls, two of which netted heroin worth more than $2 million each, there was still drugs out on the streets.

He said Police and Customs would not rest on their laurels and would continue to work hard to keep drugs off Bermuda's streets, but he said the community must help.

He said: "We need to encourage the general public to step up and help us.

Drugs is not a Police or Customs problem, it is a community problem.

"We feel that if the community works with us, they can successfully help to combat this menace.

"If anyone has information they can call Police or Crime Stoppers.'' Mr. Conn said despite the great start to seizing drugs this year, it was impossible to say whether the successful trend would continue.

He added: "It is my experience that there are trends and there are methods for smuggling that are in vogue for a period of time. We don't know what we are going to face.

"It is a huge challenge, but we are prepared and are ready to work hard, as always. One thing is for sure, there is bound to be at least one person who is greedy enough to take the risk. But we will be waiting.'' Anyone with information should call Police on 295-0011, or Crime Stoppers on 1-800-623-8477.