damaging an $85,000 yacht he sailed to Bermuda.

Mr. Danny Cannonier, 32, says officers are right to hunt for hidden drugs and contraband on boats. But he is demanding action to restore the condition of the luxury yacht he was delivering.

Mr. Cannonier, of Hillview estate, Warwick, was bringing the 41-foot ketch Suzie from Florida to Bermuda with his brother Duane and the boat's owner, Mr.

James Parsons.

Nearing Bermuda after calling at Jamaica, Suzie suffered battery problems.

About 10 miles off the Island, a fishing boat agreed to take Mr. Cannonier's brother ashore so he could tell relatives and the authorities they were safe and near home.

At this point, says Mr. Cannonier, Police and Customs officers arrived.

"They saw my brother in the boat and thought that we were trying to take drugs off the yacht or something. Then they started searching Suzie .

"I have no problem with that, that's their job. It stops drugs coming into my Country. But in doing this they pulled this very expensive boat apart and have not put things back.'' Officers dismantled fittings and drilled holes for high-tech probes, said Mr.

Cannonier. Some electrical systems are not working and a $1,300 satellite location device has been confiscated, he added. The boat is now at Black Horse dock after being impounded for two days.

"We had it spotless when the Police boarded, and when they left it was a total mess. I'm still discovering things that they have poked with.'' Mr. Cannonier says he has no drug convictions. He needs letters of reference to get hired for deliveries.

As a Rastafarian and the son of Public Service Commission chairwoman Mrs.

Jeanette Cannonier, he says he has to set a good example. "It's pure harassment. Because of my hair they think there's got to be drugs. It's making it hard for me to make a living.'' He has hired lawyer Mr. Phil Perinchief and says he will make complaints to Customs and Police.

Police declined to comment. But Collector of Customs Mr. Gerry Ardis denied his officers harass people. "I don't know that he's a Rastafarian,'' he said.

"I don't know anything about him at all. We do searches every day of the week, on all sorts of vessels.

"We have no obligation to leave a vessel exactly as we found it. Normally people put in a claim and we consider it based on information from our officers and the claimant.'' MR. DANNY CANNONIER inside the luxury ketch Suzie .