A visitor has hit out at the heavy-handed treatment she received when three "officials'' turned up at her accommodation late at night following an earlier incident at the airport.

Hong Kong resident Nadege Mallarme said she was terrified when three men, one in a uniform, appeared at her Pembroke guest house, Rosemont, and began questioning her about her visit to Bermuda.

The men even went into her room after initially claiming they were night managers. She asked for identification but it was unclear to her who they were.

She said that she was upset because they were all men and she was alone in the house.

"I could not sleep the rest of the night and had to find another guest house to stay in the next day,'' she said.

Rosemont Assistant Manager Lori Cooper-Lewis said: "When I came in in the morning, our night security man said that three Police officers had come asking which room she was in and he had told them.'' She added that the Rosemont did not have a night manager.

Miss Mallarme said she complained to a secretary at the Department of Tourism.

"She said that I had made myself suspicious because I came to the Island by myself and I didn't have a reservation. But I have travelled to the Caribbean under the same circumstances and this has never happened.

"Also I had two travel books and neither one of them said that you had to come with a hotel reservation already made.'' Miss Mallarme arrived in Bermuda on an American Airlines flight from New York on April 11 without accommodation reservations, but was expecting to find one on arrival.

She passed through Immigration without a problem but when she asked a representative at the Visitor Service Bureau for assistance, she was whisked off into a room for questioning.

After releasing her, staff helped her find a place to stay. Miss Mallarme was visited by the three men that night.

Asian tourist tells of strange visit by `officials' Both Immigration and Customs officials denied that the three men belonged to their departments.

Government Information Services, on behalf of the Department of Immigration, said: "As part of our service, Immigration officers spend considerable time helping visitors find suitable accommodations.

"However, the activities described after the visitor left the airport are definitely not immigration procedures and certainly would not be authorised by the Ministry of Labour, Home Affairs and Public Safety.

"Neither the Chief Immigration Officer, acting Chief Immigration Officer nor the Assistant Chief Immigration Officer at the airport were ever contacted in this regard.

"We note that there are sometimes other investigations carried out in connection with suspicious activities that may be investigated by other Government agencies for perfectly valid reasons.'' A Government information sheet on immigration regulations stated "most bona fide visitors with a confirmed return ticket and place of accommodation will have no difficulties with Bermuda Immigration Control''.

Police were unavailable for comment last night.

Scared: Hong Kong visitor Nadege Mallarme.

CUSTOMS CUS IMMIGRATION IMM