Drug smugglers are exploiting an alleged drop in security on cruise ship gangways, according to Customs officers.

And a Government decision to replace Customs officers at ports with regular security officers has also resulted in a loss of duty collection, the insiders claimed.

Customs officers who spoke to The Royal Gazette on condition of anonymity said they were shocked at a decision to drop a 24-hour Customs presence at ship gangways for this year's cruise ship season.

They believed that an official Customs presence helped to serve as a deterrent to would-be drug smugglers.

Now five months into the season, sources have expressed frustration at the drop in customs strength at the ports of entry.

The officers said security guards did not possess the same powers -- to execute search and seizure and collection of revenue -- as Customs officers.

"They don't have the same power to stop and search as Customs has,'' one officer said. "That is a definite reason that there are probably a lot of drugs that are not accounted for.

"That's how many seizures are made. The security officers cannot stop and check and that was one of the biggest deterrents to people trying to smuggle drugs or anything else.

"The Collector is trying to get the big weight, but in order to get the big weight, you have to keep pressure on the little weight. There are many of us who personally don't feel that it is working and it adds to the frustration.'' Earlier this year, Government decided not to take on 15 extra revenue officers -- normally hired for the summer cruise ship season -- but instead replaced them with security officers.

"It's not working,'' another officer said. "The majority of the department would like to have the old system back. It messed up the whole department.

Cruise ships are known as a major source of smuggling into the Island, but we were deterring people from making that choice.'' One officer said: "We are surely losing money on duty collection. When someone comes off with items, there is not an official presence at the gangway to collect duty.'' Gangway security guards criticised Collector of Customs William LeDrew defended the system, saying that although security officers do not have the same level of power as customs officers, he was satisfied with the success of the programme.

"In my opinion collecting revenue is not the major concern. We give people the opportunity on the ship to declare their items when the ship docks, just as people can make a declaration at the airport.

"And just as at the airport, not everyone does it. We are monitoring it though and if someone comes through and does not declare a VCR, they're taking a chance. If you get caught you will pay a penalty.

"Customs' standpoint is going along as planned. We are working jointly with Police teams to give a static presence not a visible presence. It is an intelligence-driven programme, we're not stopping people at random. We may not be a visible presence, but we are there.'' The Collector noted a special unit of his Customs officers have made several significant seizures during this summer's cruise ship season.

And he pointed out the arrest of Bermudian resident Clinton Alphonso Wright and two cruise ship workers, Jamaican Lennox Afflick and Indonesian Yagustana Bramada.

They were accused of attempting to import $45,000 worth of cocaine last month.

"That is the kind of results we are looking for,'' he said. "We want to pick off the drugs coming through importers, as opposed to the couriers. I am quite satisfied.'' Corporation of Hamilton Secretary Roger Sherratt said there were moves afoot to possibly retrain the security officers to give them more powers.

"We are mainly concerned with the safety of the ships. We have video cameras all along the docks to monitor activity. The long term objective is whether the ships are safe and secure.

"We are also looking at special training for the security officers and also special equipment. There is a review being made as to what powers they should have and what their duty should be.

"It's up to Customs and Government to decide about what they want to do about the situation of un-customed goods. The security officers have very little to do with that.'' CUSTOMS CUS DRUGS DGS