The Rev. Mekbib Atnaw of Hamilton Parish claimed he was "picked from among the white passengers'' when he arrived at the airport earlier this month on a Delta flight from Atlanta.

Referring to a mother and her teenage son's claims this week of racism at the Civil Air Terminal, Mr. Atnaw said: "I myself was a victim of a young black Customs officers in the same airport on February 7.

"Unusually there were not many black people in that airliner. As soon as I took my place in a queue of hundreds of white people, a young black officer came and picked me from among the white passengers.

Rev. Atnaw, an Ethiopian national who has lived here three years, said he was told to follow the officer.

He said he was asked a series of questions and the officer searched his overcoat, luggage and all his belongings.

"It was not just a matter of checking, but an interrogation,'' he said. Rev.

Atnaw said the search took so long he became weary.

"When he could not find anything except a receipt of less than ten dollars for small size batteries, he allowed me to leave,'' he said.

"When I went out, all the white passengers had already left, I could not see even a single white passenger.

The elderly Rev. Atnaw said he was so distraught by the incident he "sat down and wept''.

"I had travelled throughout many countries like the United States, Canada, Jamaica, Switzerland, Paris, home. But I had never even seen a Customs officer who discriminated against me in such an unusual manner, tearing even the envelopes of my friends' letters.

"He was not able to give attention even to my old age and church ministry.

Why? Nothing else but I am a black African.'' Rev. Atnaw said he had "great respect'' for the people of Bermuda, but: "When I find myself a victim to such absolute racism, what can I say?'' Collector of Customs Mr. Gerry Ardis said he was not familiar with case. But he assured it would be investigated.

However, he repeated his statements of the previous day, insisting Customs officers did not discriminate on the job.

"Race does not enter our thinking,'' he said. "We select people based on a number of things, including behavioural things, intelligence information and questioning -- Customs officers are trained to question people.'' He acknowledged that unfortunately Customs officers' role tended to be "confrontational''.

But they tried to do their job as sensitively and professionally as possible, he said.

"They have their jobs to do,'' he said. "Drugs is a serious thing.'' Mr.

Ardis added that of the roughly 600,000 people who passed through the Airport last year, there had been just 21 complaints.

In commenting on the teenager's claims of racism and unnecessary questioning this week, Mr. Ardis had said that Customs procedures for detecting drug smugglers were proving so successful that drug seizures this year had almost surpassed the whole of last year's.

In 1993, some $3 million worth of drugs was seized by Customs officers, he had noted.

In the past two months alone, a "huge amount'' of illegal substances had been seized, he said, almost exceeding the $3 million mark.

He also noted that of the 429 people pulled aside last year by customs officers for personal searches, some 129 were found to be smuggling drugs. Of that number, some 75 percent were white, he said.