Air cargo control unit at IIA to be upgraded

Modernisation aims to further curb smuggling of illicit substances, shipments

RAWALPINDI:

Aviation authorities have decided to upgrade the air cargo control unit at the Islamabad International Airport.

The unit, tasked with profiling inbound and outbound air consignments and identifying and stopping those that may carry illicit substances, was inaugurated in 2020 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Pakistan Country Office, the World Customs Organisation (WCO) as part of the UNODC Container Control Programme (CCP), in partnership with the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF), Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), and Pakistan Customs.

Sources said that the container control system will be upgraded per international regulations.

Smugglers use legitimate cargo to cover their illegal shipments including drugs, gold, foreign currency, diamonds and antiques as the high volume of global trade consignment movements makes it particularly hard for Customs and law enforcement officers to spot illicit consignments.

To address this challenge, UNODC and World Customs Organisation (WCO) developed the Container Control Programme concept and methodology which invests in human resource development and training profiling experts.

Airport sources said that smugglers continue to use cargo from airports around the world to smuggle contrabands.

Read Drug smuggling bid foiled at airport

In 2019, about 40 attempts of smuggling drugs were foiled from other airports across the country.

Aviation sources said that so far, 128 kilograms of heroin, 25 kg of cocaine, 303 kg of ketamine and 9 kg of methamphetamine have been seized after the installation of the air cargo unit at the Islamabad airport, officials told the Express Tribune.

They said that smugglers attempted to smuggle drugs 19 times to the UK, five times to Canada and three times to Malaysia.

Pakistan civil aviation authorities have decided to further improve the container control system and implement the latest changes in the system at airports around the world at Islamabad International Airport.

Airport sources said that correspondence with the World Customs Organisation in this regard would be started from Thursday (today) and the annual and monthly cargo load at the Islamabad International Airport will be shared with them and a modernisation mechanism will be sought to be put in place to increase the cargo load to achieve best results.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 14^th, 2022.