Bermuda, a Magistrate yesterday heard a teenage boy admit he was a drug courier.

The 15-year-old Warwick boy told Magistrate Carlisle Greaves he was a drug runner for adults who later paid him in cannabis and that he had smoked pot since he was 12.

Mr. Greaves and his Juvenile Court panel of Yvonne Simmons and Alfred Augustus sat shocked with the matter of fact admission: "I sometimes make a run (for people) to get weed''.

He had just pleaded guilty to stealing a handbag from a tourist and possessing cannabis when he was arrested late on April 27.

Just last week, Police Commissioner Jean-Jacques Lemay stated that pushers used their own children to "go out and sell drugs''.

There was no suggestion the boy's parents were involved or even knew of his drug use or trafficking.

Probation officers will produce a social inquiry report next month for the panel to ponder before he is sentenced. His mother and stepfather were in the court, with the man saying: "I know this isn't the time or place but he's a compulsive liar and a thief. He has stolen from my family and my wife's family.'' The boy told the court he "makes runs'' for "older people, like in their teens and 20s'' to "certain places'' in western parishes.

"They give you your share,'' he added. "I don't have a lot of money, that's why I make runs a lot.'' Police prosecutor Peter Giles interjected: "Which is called dealing in drugs which could get a 20-year sentence for you in adult court.'' Mr. Greaves said: "There is a lesson in this for all of us. We don't want to admit that drugs are out there in the schools.

"When I was in Barbados, I had an argument about this and I exposed it. They went and busted the schools.'' He also called for mandatory drug testing in schools, saying drug use had "become the norm'' for young people.

Mr. Greaves warned the youth about stealing from visitors, calling it "betraying your Country''.

"Your little bit of greed has put the whole nation in trouble,'' he said.

"When you do this you are betraying your Country.'' The boy was put under a 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew after his parents volunteered that often they had not seen him for "some time''.

His mother added he only returned home Tuesday night to be in court yesterday.

Mr. Greaves said: "Well, I'm going to fix that. If this man doesn't come home he is to be brought back here and we'll put him in a place (a juvenile home).'' Insp. Giles said the boy was arrested shortly after an American visitor gave a description of a youth she saw taking her purse and camera out of a golf cart.

Minutes before, he had approached them to sell golf balls.

Police found a paper twist of 1.24 grams of cannabis in the boy's cell. Insp.

Giles noted: "Which the officer should have found a long time before then.'' He was released on $500 bail with one surety.