Bermuda?s lust for porn is soaring, according to statistics released by Customs which show seizures have increased by 1,600 percent in the last five years.

DVDs are the most popular item, with printed material on the decline.

There were just three seizures in 1999, but they went up six-fold the following year and doubled again in 2001 and have increased every year since.

Last year there were 48 seizures said Collector of Customs Winifred Fostine DeSilva.

The items were seized and destroyed if they were deemed pornographic by the Broadcasting Commission because intercourse was taking place.

?If not, they are returned to the owner.?

She said first-time transgressors faced no further sanction but large-scale importers faced prosecution.

Bermuda?s pornography laws were questioned by a lawyer who visited recently and was surprised to see warnings against imported material, yet hard-core pornography was readily available in his room at the Hamilton Princess.

Hamilton Princess Director of Operations Scott Hoadley confirmed his hotel did have a range of adult material which he said was digitally transferred from overseas.

Mrs. Fostine-DeSilva said Customs were responsible for guarding Bermuda?s borders while the Police were responsible for what went on around the Island.

Asked what lay behind the increase in seizures she said: ?I can?t speak to the Island?s morale fibre. It haven?t a clue why people bring it in. It is not something I do.?

One Island resident told he had brought in racy magazines bought in Prague featuring full-blown orgies which a Customs officer had spotted but she had waived him through.

He said: ?She opened my bag, saw something, turned around and then said ?I hope you enjoy your holiday?, which was strange as I was just returning from one.?

Mrs. Fostine-DeSilva seemed shocked a Customs officer had turned a blind eye. She said: ?She has committed an offence against the act. I would like to have the details.?

Under Bermuda law, pornography is dealt with under the Obscene Publications Act but the laws were aimed at specialist magazines from the early 1970s.

The act doesn?t specifically cover electronic transmission and understands the Attorney General?s chambers have ruled the act doesn?t consider such transactions to be importation, which has frustrated some Police.