US mull CSI extension to Indian seaports

Chennai: The US Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) plans to extend its Container Security Initiative (CSI) to Indian ports. It has sent a proposal to the Union Government in this regard, according to Mr V.P. Singh, Chairman, Central Board of Excise and Customs.

The CSI is to help increase security for containerised cargo shipped to the US from around the world. The CBP stations multidisciplinary teams of the US officers from both CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to work together with host foreign government counterparts. Their mission is to target and pre-screen containers and to develop additional investigative leads related to the terrorist threat to cargo destined to the US.

'The government and the Inter-Ministerial Committee are examining the proposal of the US. At this point I will not be in a position to tell whether the proposal would be accepted or not.

There is no pressure from the US on this,' he told newspersons on the sidelines of the 56th session of the World Customs Organisation (Policy Commission) held in Chennai.

If the proposal was accepted, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port (India's biggest container handling port) would be the first to have CSI, according to sources.

Globally, 47 CSI ports, including Colombo and Singapore, are operational as of August 29. The latest to join the CSI and become operational was Freeport, The Bahamas. Additional CSI team deployments are also expected soon at numerous other ports around the world, according to information available in the CBP web site.

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the US Customs Service began developing anti-terrorism programmes to help secure the US. Within months of these attacks, the US Customs created the CSI.

CSI addresses the threat to US border security and global trade posed by the potential for terrorist use of a maritime container to deliver a weapon.