Lawyers are set to argue today if Customs and Police were correct to seize more than 330 gaming machines in a crackdown on suspected illegal parts.

The Attorney General's Chambers will go before Justice Archibald Warner in the Supreme Court in a bid to prove that the warrants used to confiscate the units were lawful.

Defence lawyers for eight different premises have claimed that the warrants were unlawful and that damages and financial losses should be paid.

If the defence attorneys win their case, it could result in Customs paying out hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages to a number of different businesses.

The eight premises that have filed writs, predominantly against Customs, have already had their gambling units returned this week after Mr. Justice Warner made an interim order for the machines to be handed back pending an outcome of the substantive hearing today.

And those that have not yet received their machines back, will have them returned.

However, if the Attorney General's Chambers wins its case today, then all of the machines may be seized for a second time, and the investigation into alleged illegal parts will continue.

More than 300 machines were confiscated by 70 Customs and Police officers three weeks' ago after the agencies suspected that spare parts being imported and declared for use in video machines were, in fact, being used to repair gaming machines.

Under the Prohibition of Gaming Act 2001, people are allowed to continue operating existing gambling machines, but are not allowed to upgrade or repair them.

The idea of the law was to eventually see gaming units break down and die out.

However, The Royal Gazette understands that the continued good health of gaming units on the Island, coupled with the huge amount of spare parts imported, led Customs and Police to suspect that the law was being broken.

The Beach pub on Front Street won an order to have its machines returned last week, but complained that many were damaged and had parts missing after being handed back.

Yesterday, Freddie's bar in St. George's also complained that of the 26 machines it had confiscated, only five were working after their return.

Owner of the bar Allan Powell said: "A lot of it is electrical. It looks like electrical leads have been severed, either physically cut or because the machines have been dragged over them.

"Until we can get electrical power to the machines, I don't know if they are actually still working.

"However, there are also a few parts of the machines missing."

And Neil Inchcup Junior, who operates Plush, and owns the machines at The Porch, said some of his machines were damaged.

He said: "I know we had about four damaged at Plush, but I think they are still working, despite being damaged.

"Of course, we are looking to get damages for this. It looks deliberate, if you ask me. I'm going to be in court for the hearing on Thursday."

But John Kiernan, a partner at The Palace, said of the 28 machines taken from his premises, most of them were working yesterday. Maybe three or four were damaged, he said.

"They seem to have been damaged from transporting because they are quite delicate," he said.

"I don't think there is anything untoward or malicious. They all had labels on them saying they had been checked.

"We are just glad to have our machines back. We have lost three weeks of business. We have never failed to pay our bills, but we have had to put a hold on everyone in the last few weeks.

"I can't estimate how much we have lost, but we have had to reduce our staff by half. We are hoping that tomorrow (Thursday) we can open 100 percent again."

The hearing will begin at 9.30 a.m. in Supreme Court five.