You can run but you can't hide. That's the message the Bermuda Regiment is sending out to draft dodgers.

One such unwilling recruit had his Christmas vacation plans dashed when Regiment Police turned up at the airport just as he was about to board a charter flight to Jamaica on Saturday morning.

The Regiment had been tipped off about his travel plans some weeks earlier and made their arrest at the check-in counter.

The young man now has to be processed and a medical exam has been scheduled for January 6.

Two others who took the flight had also been on the Regiment's hit list, but they showed up at Warwick Camp some weeks earlier to comply with the law.

Regiment Commanding Officer Lt. Col. Edward Lamb told this newspaper that the arrest should show that the Regiment was serious about catching all draft dodgers.

"That was the message we wanted to send the community, that we will find them wherever they are and we encourage them to take the path of least resistance. The net result was that he has paid for a vacation that he will not be able to take," he said.

Laws passed earlier this year established automatic enlistment of young Bermudians called to serve in the Regiment.

The measures mean that the court system will effectively be bypassed for draft dodgers as those who fail to show up for their medical examination, the final stage of recruitment, are enlisted anyway, arrested by the Regiment Police and then subject to military discipline.

The soldier arrested this weekend was, at first, "a little resistant" said Lt. Col. Lamb.

"Clearly he was perturbed by the fact that he was going to be missing his vacation. He was quite vocal in his chagrin but he calmed down and he understood the folly of his ways," Lt. Col. Lamb said when asked the man's demeanour when he was arrested. "At the end of the process he fully understood that we were doing our job and he was required by his country."

Some 200 draft dodging soldiers are being sought by the Regiment.

Lt. Col Lambe said that all of them will eventually be apprehended. "Many of them have gone into hiding, they have gone underground and living a transient lifestyle moving from place to place, which is quite silly really."

Members of the public, including parents, other relatives and girlfriends had been very helpful by providing leads and information.

"We will get them, by hook or by crook the net has been cast far and wide. Some have been very elusive and are refusing to comply with the law. But eventually we will get them."

Troops were at the airport at 6.30 a.m. for Saturday's 8 a.m. flight to Jamaica.

"The hunt continues," added Lt. Col. Lamb. "Two or three sources told us of a few names that were going to be on this flight and sure enough it turned out to be true and we made good our capture."

The Regiment has been visible at the airport in recent months looking out for draft dodgers leaving or returning to the Island.

Lt. Col. Lamb added that a number of dodgers may turn out to be unfit to serve and let go.

"But they will never know that until they present themselves."