AN American couple who arrived in Bermuda last Saturday to finalise the purchase of a Bermudian-owned yacht and sail it home to the US complained that they spent a long afternoon in the company of Bermuda Immigration, and were generally "treated like criminals".

But the Immigration Department insists that they were treated professionally, and with traditional Bermudian courtesy.

Rich and Teri Desi are currently en route to the US in the catamaran Rising Son, but their experience in Bermuda may not encourage them to favour Bermuda with a return visit any time soon.

They bought the catamaran from William (Beez) Evans, who left Bermuda last Friday on his way to Aruba. He had sold his 43-foot charter boat to the Desis, because he wanted to improve the prospects for his charter business by upgrading to a 60-foot catamaran.

However, after he flew out of Bermuda, Customs contacted his home and informed his family that the Rising Son had been seized. On the previous Monday, Mr. Evans had informed Customs of the sale of his boat to a US buyer, the planned departure of the boat to the US last Tuesday, crewed by the new owners, and his intent to buy a new and larger yacht.

The Rising Son was seized because Customs believed that additional Customs duty was owed, because the boat had been sold to foreign buyers.

Any unresolved dispute between HM Customs and Mr. Evans should not have affected Customs and Immigration's treatment of the Desis, who were, of course, unaware of the full ramifications of the situation as they approached the desk at the airport.

As the Desis sail west, an e-mail from Mr. Evans describes their version of their reception at the Airport.

"I left on Friday morning on my way to Aruba. The Customs officer contacted my home, after I was in Florida, and informed us of the seizure of the Rising Son. Now, I had the new owners, the Desis, flying in on Saturday to pick up their yacht, and depart on Tuesday. The owners were stopped at Customs and informed that they could not even approach the yacht.

"According to the Desis, their equipment was removed and put in bond, and Immigration then proceeded to harass them for hours. During their visit to our airport, they were locked in separate interrogation rooms. A window between the rooms allowed them to see each other.

"The wife was crying, and the husband was forced to watch this, while also being forced to count out all of the money in his wallet, some $4,000. They were insulted, and treated as criminals.

"They arrived at 1.30 p.m. and were finally allowed to leave at 5.30 p.m. and check into the Hamilton Princess, but not before they had been threatened with an immediate return flight to the US. Also, they had asked to be allowed to contact "the American Embassy", and the (Immigration) officers denied there was any such representation, and only admitted that the island had a US Consulate after the Desis had spent a long period of time in interrogation.

"At that point, the Desis were refused permission to use the Immigration telephone, and were directed to a payphone in the arrivals area. However, the Desi family had no change, and Immigration informed them that they were out of luck. No call was allowed to be placed."

The e-mail was circulated to other commercial boat operators, and one of them, who preferred not to be named, was scathing in his condemnation of the treatment of the Desis.

"If it happened like that, it would be absolutely disgraceful. Can you imagine? They must have been so excited to be coming here, obviously on a one-way flight ticket, arriving on the island to take the boat back. It may have been a more difficult situation because Beez wasn't here on the island, but there's no excuse for that type of treatment.

"It might have rung alarm bells when they arrived on a one-way ticket, but every Bermudian who buys a boat overseas travels on a one-way ticket, and there have been problems in some of the Caribbean islands.

"Customs obviously knew they were going to seize that boat before these people even left for the airport in the US. Why did they not warn them not to come in until the situation was worked out?"

Collector of Customs Winifred Fostine DeSilva was sure that the Customs officials at the airport treated the Desis with their customary professionalism and politeness, because Mr. Desi had said so.

"I doubt that my officers would have told them they could not make a call from our station, because our officers generally do assist people when they come through, and with phone calls provided it's a local call.

"Our officers are familiar with the right of appeal to the Collector of Customs for any search. I actually spoke to that gentleman, and he did not have any complaints about the Customs officers. My officers tried to facilitate his clearance as expeditiously as possible, and within the guidelines of the law.

"Customs would 'secondary' anyone who did not have a proper address. Our officers would have been aware that the vessel was under concession and that the person could not live on board the vessel.

"Obviously, that would not be a legitimate address for someone coming into Bermuda, and Customs would have deferred them to Immigration, where they would normally facilitate them in getting a hotel reservation, and in 20 minutes they would be on their way."

Mrs. DeSilva could not comment on the actual treatment of the Desis, and suggested a conversation with Immigration.

Rozy Azhar, assistant Chief Immigration Officer, took issue with the Desis' report of their reception at the airport, and insisted that they had been treated respectfully and professionally throughout the process.

"We asked the principal officer at the airport to obtain information about that situation, and they had gone through the Immigration process and were actually landed in the island for seven days, when they were brought back by Customs, because they were aware that the yacht was seized.

"Because they had said they were going to stay on the yacht, they needed to arrange accommodation while they were in Bermuda. The officer then, as we normally do, proceeded to try to get accommodation for them.

"Yes, the gentleman was quite angry, as he would be, finding out his plans were thwarted. But although he was quite angry, these were two very seasoned officers, both ladies, so quite honestly, these ladies are not in the habit of harassing people.

"They did try to get them accommodation, they asked them if they wanted to stay at the Hamilton Princess, and the gentleman said 'yes', and at no time did they ask to speak to the US Consulate.

"At the end of the interview, the gentleman said he was upset, because he felt that Customs had no right to seize the vessel, because it was a US vessel, and that as soon as he got settled, he was going to call the US Consulate.

"They had told the Immigration officer that, for the first two days of their stay, they were planning to live aboard the yacht. The Bermudian seller was not here on the day they arrived, and they were going to stay on the yacht until he returned in two days and they got everything sorted out.

"We do ask people when they come in whether they have adequate funds to remain on the island. They were asked how much money they had, which is our normal procedure in these cases. Whether they were asked to count it out would depend on the circumstances.

"Although I don't know, they may have been asked to do so, particularly people who reside on yachts, because we have had people come down here who say they are going to stay on yachts, and we find them staying in tents, and they come with no money.

"This would not seem to be the case here, but the officers have to satisfy themselves, before they land anybody, that the visitors have adequate funds to remain in Bermuda."

Ms. Azhar reported that the information from her officers was that the Desis did not spend an unusual length of time at the referrals area, and that they were never deliberately separated, and that they were never locked in any room.

"At that time of the day, all of the flights are coming in, and there may have been other referrals. We don't separate people to interrogate them under these circumstances, but he was angry, and felt that Customs had no right to seize the boat, but that was not an Immigration issue. Having said that, we do have to know where people will be staying.

"What happened here was that they were brought back from Customs, but by that time they had their luggage, so they came back to the referral area as a couple, and only the gentleman went into referral with the officer, and the lady stayed outside with the luggage.

"She wasn't taken to a separate room, and neither one of them was locked away. They were only in referrals between 30 minutes and 45 minutes, and only that long because they were trying to find accommodation for them.

"These officers are quite used to dealing with persons who may be upset, and they will normally give them an opportunity to calm down. In this case, they spent time trying to find them adequate accommodation.

"If the people aren't violent, and are just upset, it's like dealing with any other customer service issue, knowing that people are going to be tired, and in this case, that this gentleman's boat was no longer available to him."