Uncertain prevails over fixing of scanners at Bangla ports

Dhaka: Installation of scanners at the land and sea ports to combat smuggling of weapons, explosives, drugs and other goods has become uncertain.

Persistent smuggling of deadly items forced the Home Ministry to go for the initiative in 2003, but lack of seriousness of the concerned authorities stalled it at the end, the Ministry sources said.

‘Dillydallying by the National Board of Revenue and the high cost of such machines are the reasons behind the failure to set up scanners in three years,’ a Ministry official said.

The Ministry stresses installation of the scanners to prevent smuggling of deadly weapons and other goods along with legal ones, he added.

‘Scope is there to bring illegal arms, explosives and explosive substances under the cover of legally imported goods through both land and sea ports,’ he said.

According to the Home Ministry and intelligent officials, arms, explosives and drugs could easily be smuggled in, seriously affecting the overall security of the country.

‘To ensure security, all the imported goods must be scanned properly on their arrival at the ports,’ an official of the National Security Intelligence said.

A number of discussions and meetings regarding the initiative held at the home ministry in 2003. The following year, a team from the ministry visited a number of countries to see the operation of scanning machines.

A NBR official at the 36th meeting of the national committee to combat smuggling said they had almost completed specifications of the scanners.

In the backdrop of the August 17 countrywide serial-bombing that required a large amount of explosives, the meeting reiterated the need for immediate installation of scanners at all ports.

The NBR, however, failed to say anything in this regard at the recently held 37th meeting of the committee.

The Home Ministry requested the Land Port Authorities to install scanners but they turned it down, saying, ‘It is too costly’.

The meeting also urged the NBR to take steps in this regard. Frustrated by the delay, the State Minister for Home Affairs, Lutfozzaman Babar, hinted that the government might make mandatory installation of scanners in all ports to prevent smuggling of deadly weapons and other goods.

Babar, who was the meeting chair, also expressed dissatisfaction over the output of the anti-smuggling drive and directed the concerned officials to carry out the drive in a more coordinated and effective way.