on Alex Scott's claims of links between organised crime, the UBP and docks operations.

The presidents of Container Ship Management and Meyer Agencies -- Geoffrey Frith and Henry Hayward -- rejected Mr. Scott's comments as "unfounded allegations'' and "cheap pot shots''.

The Shadow Home Affairs Minister made his controversial claim in Friday's Royal Gazette , saying drug barons could hide behind unspoken, "unwitting'' links with Government.

He backed up his claims by saying PLP supporters did not own yachts and containers which ferry drugs into Bermuda.

And he said the UBP's hands were tied in going after drug traffickers because of the business interests of members and supporters.

Container Ship Management and Meyer Agencies, which manage Bermuda Container Line, Bermuda International Shipping and Somers Isles Shipping, issued a joint statement last night.

It said: "All three shipping companies work hard to be productive and contributing members of the Bermudian community and, like all upstanding Bermudians, abhor the drug trade which destroys the lives of many people.

"The companies are very saddened when a politician takes cheap pot shots at them that have no basis in reality.

"Remarks such as those made by Mr. Alex Scott only serve to weaken these companies in their overseas operations.'' The statement from Mr. Frith and Mr. Hayward said the firms covered "a broad spectrum of Bermudians'', pointing to long-serving Bermuda Container Line Chairman Gilbert Darrell and fellow directors Austin Thomas, an ex-PLP MP, and Cecil Durham, a senior associate of the Bermuda Industrial Union.

It also said the firms were committed to cracking crime by signing up to anti-drugs schemes run by US Customs, the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI.