Bermuda is an island. Very little of the drugs are grown here ¿ the vast majority is smuggled in." That statement, unprompted, from Assistant Police Commissioner Bryan Bell goes to the nub of what many people find so troubling about Bermuda's massive drug problem which has gone on seemingly unabated for decades.

Critics fail to fathom how with only two routes into a tiny land mass ¿ sea and air ¿ the island is unable to stem a ceasless flow of deadly narcotics.

It's not for lack of effort on behalf of Police and Customs said Mr. Bell who said interdiction teams at the airport and docks unearthed drugs on "almost daily basis".

He said seizures went up at Cup Match as dealers cranked up imports to cope with increased demand.

"There's been a number of significantly good seizures at the airport and others where one would almost suspect there's an element of desperation by some of the drug dealers to get hold of some of the drugs judging by some of their attempts to smuggle it in."

People had been caught with crude attempts to smuggle in drugs in such things as suitcases said Mr. Bell.

But those pondering the never-ending supply needed to look at the incessant demand.

"One has to recognise just how far drugs have pervaded society."

He said virtually everybody in Bermuda knew at least one or two people involved in drugs while hundreds of people were arrested every year, indicating the scale of the problem.

Last year Police made 812 drug seizures and 526 people were arrested for drug related offences. In the first six months of this year there have been 265 seizures and 147 arrests. However Mr. Bell refused to reveal the street level worth of the drugs seized after indicating such figures are misleading.

Sources within the drug counselling world have said heroin is now the hard drug of choice with users smoking it rather than shooting up.

But Mr. Bell said crack was particularly prevalent.

"The reality is the criminal will deal in any commodity they can smuggle in and sell for a profit.

"If you are a heroin addict and they have no heroin they will try to sell you crack cocaine. If you are a crack addict and there's no crack they will try to push you on to heroin.

"That is why a lot of drug users who end up in prison present themselves as poly-drug users.

"There's a ready acceptance here of the use of marijuana. But any involvement with marijuana is to encourage a serious organised criminality on the island.

"You cannot smoke weed on a Saturday night and turn a blind eye to the fact you are responsible for someone being chopped with a machete on a Sunday morning."

He said it was wrong to say only hard drugs fuelled hardcore crime.

"We can prove that those who are selling the hard drugs also sell marijuana.

"The reality is a lot of the violence going on is associated with trying to protect their territory for their drug dealing criminal enterprises."

Mr. Bell said the vast majority of drugs came to Bermuda via the US with the original source often being further south although some drugs still came from the UK.

"It is of concern there are particular links to the Southern New York and New Jersey area.

"And we know from colleagues in the US some of these are clearly extremely dangerous people."

Once on Bermuda the drugs are often consumed at crack houses.

Former National Drugs Control Minister Wayne Perinchief suggested copying Britain's ASBO laws to enable a speedy crackdown on homes used as drug hangouts.

Government currently uses a housing act which allows it to close homes unfit for habitation. But that act has little use for tackling drug runners operating out of ordinary houses in respectable neighbourhoods

Mr. Perinchief said Bermuda could follow the UK's Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 which gave new powers to control properties or locations where drug sales were causing serious nuisance or disorder. Police in Britain can issue a closure notice which must be considered by magistrates within 48 hours ¿ regardless of weekends or bank holidays.

But Mr. Bell said Police had suggested numerous law change proposals but the ASBO law is extremely bureacratic and involved hours of work before they could be put in place.

"The idea that you just wheel someone into the court and get an ASBO is not what happens in reality.

"Many councils have to employ lawyers just to maintain ASBOs and the actual number taken out are still relatively small.

"While politicians in the UK and elsewhere portray it as a panacea, the reality is from the Policing point of view is yes, it is an extra tool you can use sometimes but there are a lot of occasions it doesn't really give you much leverage."

He said other civil remedies in planning law might prove just as effective in curbing problem houses. In the meantime he said Police had expanded their community action teams to tackle open street level drug dealing.

He said a focus on St. Monica's and the north Hamilton area had netted a lot of abandoned drugs by dealers. "Clearly it's having an effect and making it more difficult for them to operate."

He urged neighbourhoods to work with the Police. "There are people who have come forward and assisted the police without any repercussions.

"People have to make choices, they can't live in an area being run down by drug abuse and not want to be part of trying to make it better.

"We want to turn those communities around."–He said if neighbours did nothing their areas were bound to decline but if they tried to stop the rot most likely things would improve.

Police would like to do more said Mr. Bell. "To do what needs to be done, we don't have the resources.

"You see on TV two detectives busting 'Mr. Big' and it's all over in 40 minutes but it is not the reality of Policing drug enforcement.

"It requires large numbers of dedicated officers who can work cases quite often for long periods of time with financial, forensic, surveillance and investigative expertise."

But he said officers were doing a stalwart job in tackling the problem with what they had.

"But if you were to talk to them they would feel like Peter in the dike.

"They have one success and no sooner do they think they are making progress when somewhere else something similar pops up. It is a little bit like fighting fires, moving from one threat to another."

He said Police and Customs want to upgrade detection technology to allow mass X-rays of containers to give quicker and more accurate data on what was stashed.

Even with new high tech kit Police know they are in for a long haul to reverse the flood of drugs, with success often hinging on the support of the public. Mr. Bell said: "Those who people believe locally have been involved for a long time. Why are we not getting them before the courts?

"We continue to work on all those cases and will do so and there will be no let up until hopefully they will be put behind bars. "In many cases that will require the public staying supportive to assist the Police and help take some of those people down."