Residents claim their community is being held hostage by dealings at an alleged crack house.

They say people are walking around like zombies ? begging for money to feed their habits ? and that residents are afraid to confront the dealers for fear of retaliation. And they claim that despite repeated pleas to the Police and Government nothing is being done to rid them of their nightmare.

A resident in Deepdale, Devonshire, who did not want to be named, said: ?There are six guys just sitting there selling drugs all day and all night. It never stops.

?And now we have these men walking around like zombies coming up to people?s homes and begging for money, or to wash cars or breaking in to steal so they can get more drugs.?

More than a year ago Government pledged to close down 17 crack houses across the Island. To date it is believed that only six have been closed ? three of which were not on the original list.

In November last year Attorney General Philip Perinchief said six crack houses had been closed but due to legal issues closing down others was more problematic than they had initially thought.

An existing Housing Act enabled the Government to close down crack homes that were derelict or vacant, but drug dealing operations in ordinary homes did not come under the act and could not be closed.

It is not known what has happened since November and requests from The Royal Gazette to Government for information have not been answered.

Four written requests since the beginning of January to Attorney General Phil Perinchief have not been answered. He was asked if new legislation was being drawn up to enable crack houses to be closed.

Former Minister of National Drug Control, Wayne Perinchief, was also asked for a response, but has not replied.

The initiative to close crack houses was started by Mr. Perinchief, who was moved from his post to community affairs following Ewart Brown?s election as leader of the PLP and Premier.

Last night Bermudians Against Narcotics (BAN) spokesman Takbir Sharrieff criticised the Government over its apparent failure to tackle the crack house issue. He said: ?Our view is if there are 17 crack homes that have been identified then there are 17 crack houses that should be closed down.

?It is their political and moral obligation to get the drugs out of Bermuda, by not doing it they are failing the country.?

BAN has held rallies across the Island over the last two years in an attempt to curb the spread of drug use. It was at one of its first rallies that then Attorney General Larry Mussenden declared that the crack houses Government had identified would be closed down.

He said: ?I do not care if they are in a respectable area or not when they are dealing drugs they should be closed down.

?If the Government were really serious they would go into any area and close the operation down. BAN is interested in action not promises.??