House of Assembly heard yesterday.

Finance Minister Dr. Grant Gibbons made the announcement during the annual Budget debate on the Ministry of Finance.

He said that cannabis appeared to be the "drug of choice''among smugglers and revealed that 70 shipments had been intercepted by Customs officers during the last 12 months.

Twenty cocaine shipments were caught by the Customs Department in 1997, he added.

While highlighting the sterling performance of the Customs officers, Dr.

Gibbons told MPs on Monday that the department had also made 117 revenue seizures in 1997.

He said that the officer's work was not just limited to preventing the importations of prohibited goods like weapons and pornography which numbered 121 last year.

Customs officers also prevent the illegal exports of money and in 1997 they made 25 seizures.

Dr. Gibbons said the 114 staff which comprise the Customs department was the largest source of revenue, $154,515,000, for the Government.

And with an operating budget of $8,275,000, the department provided Government with a good return on its investment, he added.

Shadow Finance Minister Eugene Cox also praised the Customs department for their "tremendous'' work.

But he questioned why the $7,190,000 of their $8,275,000 budget was eaten up by salaries.

"I noted that the percentage costs of salaries was high,'' Mr. Cox said. "Is this the norm in other Customs departments?''