war on drugs.

And its power has grown with the increasing sophistication of modern day drugs barons.

Yesterday Bermuda's legal fraternity revealed the force of the Crown's weapon against the scourge.

"It is a very effective tool,'' admitted Attorney General Mr. Walter Maddocks.

His declaration came in the wake of last week's case of American drug courier Paul Seney who helped local and US authorities smash a huge $1.5 million cocaine ring.

Seney's 71 -year jail sentence was slashed to five years because of his cooperation, defying a risk to his life.

He has been kept in solitary confinement at Casemates since agreeing to testify against the drug cartel. In New Jersey he will give evidence against chief cartel members.

His lawyer Mr. Kim White told the Supreme Court on Monday "supergrasses'' were key in winning the drug war.

He described them as one of the sharpest weapons in the Crown's armoury.

"Informers and persons who cooperate should know that they will receive a substantial discount for assisting authorities.'' Yesterday Mr. Maddocks revealed most drug trafficking cases were broken because of an informant.

The rising use of informants almost certainly mirrored the need to keep pace with modern crime.

"We are probably seeing more of it because of greater sophistication of drug traffickers these days. A lot of the more obvious ways of detection are perhaps not working.'' Mr. Maddocks denied a special deal had been set up with the US drug authorities to increase use of informants.

"We have certainly not consciously set out to increase the use. Nevertheless it is a very effective tool in the war against drugs.'' Mr. Maddocks, however, pointed out the pitfalls of "supergrass'' trials.

"If you only have the evidence of an accomplice to go on you have to act very carefully.

"You have to make very sure you have a case. You need to have regard to the issue of corroboration.'' The quality of corroborative evidence of an accomplice has long been a legal headache.

Another problem was providing security for the informant, said Mr. Maddocks.

Mr. John Riihiluoma, president of Bermuda Bar Council, said he also believed informants were becoming a more familiar Crown weapon.

"I do have that impression,'' he remarked.

Mr. Riihiluoma said informants were particularly useful in "drug courier-type'' cases.

"They are helpful in identifying people for Police couriers who are carrying out deliveries.'' The term "supergrass'' stemmed from the IRA bombing cases in Northern Ireland, he added.

New Crown Counsel Mr. Diarmuid Doorly, involved in the Seney case, was reluctant to draw parallells with the terrorist trials.

"There are major legal environmental differences, and I think it's dangerous to make too close an analogy.'' A key difference was the absence of a jury in Ireland's "supergrass'' trials.

Said Mr. Doorly: "I think the trials were initially successful, but they collapsed following public outcry.'' Former Attorney General Mr. Saul Froomkin said credit for Police cooperation was well established common law in countries such as England.

"Obviously people are more likely to cooperate if it's to their advantage.'' Mr. Froomkin said plea-bargaining was also a practice in Bermuda.

"We don't have it in the American sense of the term, in which attorneys go before a judge. We just don't have that.

"Here it is a matter of the defence counsel trying to convince the prosecution that perhaps a lesser charge is more appropriate based on the evidence or strength of the Crown's case.

"It is a discussion between the Crown and the defence.''