Two lawyers squared off in Magistrates' Court after a heated morning of fining drug-importing cruise ship passengers.

Crown counsel Koshea Scott and defence counsel Ray DeSilva went eyeball-to-eyeball in the corridor immediately outside Court One yesterday over procedural matters in a complicated case involving a New Yorker who had brought cannabis, cocaine and two controlled prescription drugs to the Island.

It is understood the row, which was witnessed by a number of members of the public seated outside the court room, was over a perceived lack of courtesy, although neither were keen to speak to The Royal Gazette about the spat.

The post-Fabian return of cruise ships brought a new batch of visitors with drugs to the Island and with it angrily raised voices as Crown counsel Wayne Caines locked legal horns with Acting Senior Magistrate Carlisle Greaves over the "preferential treatment" of foreign nationals.

The scenes were a culmination of procedural and legal issues that were brought out after sniffer dogs discovered four different controlled substances on Monday in American Michael Deninno's cabin aboard the cruise ship Zenith.

The 32-year-old New Yorker pleaded guilty to the importation of 5.5 grams of cannabis.

However he pleaded not guilty to the importation of diazepam and anbiam, which he told the court were for his wife who had been prescribed them since witnessing the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

The court was told that she was prescribed the drugs but had transferred the pills from a larger, marked bottle to a smaller, unmarked one for this trip - the prescription, it was said, was still in New York.

Mr. Greaves was determined to deal with the matter as one single count of importing controlled drugs so that the case could be dealt with immediately. Mr. Caines was adamant that the Americans should not receive preferential treatment and the not guilty pleas must be accepted.

"It is ludicrous, almost foolhardy, that just because individuals have a boat to catch or a trip abroad to make that we should change our laws and jurisdiction for them," he told the court during one of the tense exchanges with Mr. Greaves.

"It is unfortunate but this man has brought cannabis and cocaine into the Island and has controlled drugs without a prescription.

"Just because they are people from another jurisdiction, just because they are foreign nationals, does not mean that we should change our laws and treat them any differently. The law is the law is the law."

But Mr. Greaves who finally took the decision to treat the matter as a single count of drug importation, and fined the man $2,000, responded: "I don't think it is in the interests of Bermuda to have these people knocking about the place, staying in hotels or whatever.

"We should insist on our pound of flesh, like in that Shakespeare play (`The Merchant of Venice'), but get the matter over with."

Outside court Kelly Deninno, 36, said although the decision to fine them $2,000 was "pretty fair", she wouldn't be returning to Bermuda.

"It hasn't been a great trip," said Mrs. Deninno, whose cousin was killed in the September 11 attacks and who bears a nasty scar on her right arm from injuries she received from debris that day at the American Stock Exchange.

"I came here on a cruise when I was 13 and wanted to return and see the place again. But the cruise ship wasn't that great and this whole drugs thing has ruined our trip. I guess we were pretty stupid with the cocaine and pot."

Meanwhile New Yorker James Santa Maria, 55, also a passenger aboard the Zenith, was fined $1,000 for the importation of 28.71 grams of cannabis and Sammy Newair, 37, from New Jersey, a passenger aboard the Nordic Empress, was fined the same amount for bringing in 7.32 grams of cannabis.

The unemployed man said he couldn't afford the fine, to which Mr. Greaves responded: "Any man who can afford to smoke drugs can afford to pay. Smoking drugs is a luxury."