Drugs with a street value of more than $5 million have already been seized in Bermuda this year - with the first major cruise ship drug haul being discovered this week.

Narcotics chief, Police Superintendent Larry Smith said although the seizure rate for the first three months of the year was down on the same period last year, it was still a significant rate and higher than many previous years.

He cited a crackdown on drug dealers leaving Caribbean airports, which has led to a number of arrests of Jamaican nationals, as possibly having a significant impact on the number of people who have been able to make it through to Bermuda.

That, he said, could be one reason why the number of seizures at Bermuda International Airport has decreased on last year.

However, he said there was still no doubt that narcotics were still managing to enter Bermuda.

During the first quarter, Customs officers and Police confiscated cocaine worth more than $600,000, along with 1.2 kilos of cannabis.

However, about $4 million worth of heroin has been confiscated - about $3.3 million of it seized in the first major haul of the year.

And on Thursday night this week, four people were arrested after a white powder, believed to be cocaine, was seized off a cruise ship in St. George's with an estimated street value of $150,000.

Supt. Smith said the year had got off to a fairly good start for both Customs and Police, but conceded that it was not as high as the $9 million seized during the first three months of last year.

He said: "There is a difference of about 55 percent in the drug seizures of 2001 and 2002, so far.

"The first quarter figures suggest that cocaine is still the drug of choice, but heroin remains to have the biggest profit margin. Although we are seizing less of heroin, it has the biggest street value."

Supt. Smith said he could only presume why the number of seizures had dropped in Bermuda this year, in comparison to last year.

He said: "We are going to make a few assumptions here. The first is that the importation methods have improved.

"And the second is that our drugs primarily originate from throughout the Caribbean, via the US and then into Bermuda.

"I note through newspaper articles of the last two months or so that the US Government had poured lots of money into the Caribbean region, in particular countries like Jamaica, to help do a consistent purge on suspects leaving the countries.

"What we have discovered is that a lot of people coming out of Jamaica , particularly Jamaican nationals, have been arrested.

"If you challenge more diligently people leaving a country, it makes a less of a problem for the countries where they were flying to. I'm assuming this has had an impact in Bermuda."

Supt. Smith said this year, Bermuda had seen a number of people trying to enter Bermuda after swallowing narcotics and concealing them in their stomachs.

One flight had to be diverted to Bermuda earlier this year after a passenger took seriously ill after allegedly doing just that. He has since been arrested and is awaiting trial on the Island.

The senior officer said: "So, we have seen Jamaica, in particular, placing greater emphasis on drug dealers leaving their country and we are wondering whether or not that is impacting us," added the Police officer.

"But there is still sufficient enough drugs on Bermuda's streets. The prices vary, depending on the availability of drugs. At the moment, they seem to be remaining the same. They are consistent."

And this year, Supt. Smith said Police and Customs were hoping for a more successful year on the cruise ships, having only made three seizures last year.

And he said on the Police side, he was taking responsibility for the cruise ship interdiction team this year, and promised a "hands on" approach, adding that he was a member of the team on Thursday night.

He said: "The methodology is going to be very different this year than it was last year.

"We are going to use an intelligence target method, which we have done before, along with other methods.

"We will be going on ships and rummaging, using surveillance - the cruise ships are going to get my personal attention."

Supt. Smith said drug dealers will take advantage of every smuggling method if they thought they had a chance of getting narcotics through.

"So, if we leave any area uncovered, we expose ourselves to missing drugs. We are trying to balance the teams to cover all methods, involving airport, freight and cruise ships.

"Thursday night was the beginning of the methodology. The kinks have to be worked out, and it was only the first cruise ship, so we are not gloating, but hopefully we will see some more success."

No one from Customs was available for comment.