Men preferred to machines to check smuggling at BIA

Bangalore: The City is slowly becoming a hub of smuggling, especially through the airport route, forcing officials of Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) and the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) to effect some changes in the security system.
Goods that were earlier being smuggled out of other routes and airports in South India, including protected animals from the waters of the east coast, are now being stealthily whisked out of the BIA.
Having intercepted many such culprits in the past year, the Customs department has advised BIAL authorities to convert their departure checking systems from automated to manual, since automated systems do not detect live goods like sea cucumber or tortoises.
A well-placed source in the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of Customs told Deccan Herald: “About 70 per cent of the checking in the departure section was automated. Now, we have converted that to 40 per cent and 60 per cent is manual. We feel that this will help us curb outward movement of contraband from the City.”
24/05/12 Chethan Kumar/Deccan Herald

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Categories: airports May 2012