BOC gets new equipment to help spot contraband

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs (BOC) said on Wednesday that its capability to spot contraband, such as illegal drugs, would be greatly improved with the recent donation of equipment that would provide the “most accurate” analysis of shipments that enter various ports nationwide.

The BOC recently received from the World Customs Organization-Asia Pacific Security Project a donation of an X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzer and a Raman spectrometer as part of its partnership with the international agency.

“These detection devices are highly significant to customs and border control operations, particularly against the smuggling of metal products and chemicals that could pose a threat to security and safety,” Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero said.

He noted that the spectrometer would allow the BOC to better identify unknown chemicals in shipments since its analysis parameters could be customized to obtain “the most accurate analysis of specific materials.”

The XRF analyzer, on the other hand, will be used for metal identification.

Earlier, P11 billion worth of crystal meth, or “shabu,” was spirited out of the ports as customs personnel failed to spot the contraband hidden in magnetic lifters.

Customs officials explained then that without prior intelligence it was hard for them to the illegal drugs since X-ray images did not show anything unusual.

/atm