Timing and not money was the real reason that Supt. Paul Hoare of Scotland Yard was brought to Bermuda to head Operation Cleansweep, it emerged this week.

And although the core concept for the operation was not new, the size and success of the action was a first for the Island.

Police spokesperson Evelyn James Barnett made these assertions in a prepared statement released to The Royal Gazette .

The Royal Gazette had learned that Operation Cleansweep was conceived around September 1996 under Ch. Insp. George Jackson's leadership. He called an office meeting and requested ideas from his detectives about the best way to combat the drug problem on the Island. Each officer was required to come up with a paper which was then presented to him.

One of the officers, a Police sergeant, coined the Cleansweep idea and presented it to Ch. Insp. Jackson, Superintendant Vic Richmond and Ch. Insp.

Norell Hull.

But it is alleged that the Cleansweep initiative was presented to Police Commissioner Colin Coxall but was turned down. The cost of the operation was a factor, one source revealed.

However, Mrs. James Barnett said money was not the issue because the narcotics department was already looking into a range of initiatives including one similar to Operation Cleansweep.

Nonetheless, it occurred around the time that Ch. Insp. Jackson was preparing to leave the Island for his six month secondment in the United Kingdom.