Christmas travellers ignored warnings about a potentially devastating insect and brought Caribbean plants into Bermuda, it emerged yesterday.

Customs and agriculture officers were on hand at Bermuda Airport to check on passengers returning from the Caribbean on chartered flights.

And despite handing out warning leaflets about the effects of the pink mealybug before the flights left the Island -- passengers still brought plants back to Bermuda.

The pink mealybug, a tiny insect, is wreaking havoc among the Caribbean Islands destroying vegetable crops and plants.

In Grenada alone the cost of damage caused by the insect has been estimated at $4.4 million -- which does not include the loss of earnings due to trade embargoes.

The insect is known to attack more than 200 species of plants -- including popular plants such as the hibiscus, oleander, bay grape, citrus and maize.

If it reaches Bermuda agriculture experts say it will wreak havoc and leave Bermuda "unrecognisable'' and people are being urged not to bring plants back to the Island from the Caribbean.

Any imported vegetables must also have a certificate giving them a clean bill of health.

Yesterday Kevin Monkman, assistant director of agriculture, said so far the mealybug had not been detected in anything coming into Bermuda from the Caribbean.

But he said some passengers on charter flights to and from the Caribbean were found with plants which were immediately confiscated.

"Staff had distributed leaflets to passengers warning of the effects of the bug, but we still had stuff being brought back in. We'll still distribute the leaflets again on any future flights, however,'' said Mr. Monkman.

The bug was detected in the Caribbean in the early 1990s and has spread from Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago to St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, Nevis and Guatemala.

It has also been detected in the Dominican Republic and Jamaica and it is feared that unless travellers obey calls not to bring plants onto the Island it could spread to Bermuda.

The insect is resistant to many pesticides and treatment includes removing and burning the infected plant or new biological methods of control.

People in Bermuda are being urged not to bring in agricultural produce from infested countries, obtain an import permit from the Agriculture Department for non-infected Caribbean countries and report possible sightings of the insect to the department immediately.

CUSTOMS CUS GOVERNMENT GVT