Please state your name, destination and all illegal items in your possession

Customs officials employ profiling to scan people for illegal trafficking.

KARACHI: Stereotypical profiling might be considered offensive in some places, but it is one of the most common — and often effective — tool used to scan the traffic at airports for any irregular activities.

A passenger’s destination, their travel history and overall appearance, are all attributes that could raise suspicion among the customs officer.

“Many of our officers are masters at profiling,” says retired Customs Chief Media Officer, Qamar Thalho. Thalho has worked with the customs, moving up the ranks to a Superintendent, in his 36 years of service.

“Some of our officers have a trick where they will just stare down from the passport and then stare back at the person, and repeat this a few times,” explains Thalho. “Usually weaknesses are spotted because in these situations as guilty travellers avoid making eye contact or they start fidgeting. The third variety gets agitated,” said Thalho, adding that these passengers have similar behaviour when their bags are searched.

Officers are taught how to profile people and read their faces at the Directorate of Training and Research in the customs. “There is definitely talent involved. If someone goes through their training that doesn’t mean that they’ll be able read people’s faces on the first day, it comes with experience and learning through the experience of other officers,” clarified the retired officer. “Some will be able to read a person within minutes while other officers will be thrown off by crafty words.”

Majority of the successful cases, according to Thalho, are achieved from profiling instead of prior intelligence.

Analyse this

When presented a passport, the first thing a field officer analyzes is the destination. Some of the countries that ring alarm bells are Sri Lanka, Nepal, Malaysia, China, Holland, South Africa, and Nigeria, as they have recently been favoured destinations for Pakistan’s coveted drugs, such as heroin or hashish. The latter is mostly transported from the port, rarely in large quantities from the airport.

Most travellers have been through the drill of getting grilled about where they will be staying at their destination, what their relation is with the said relative, what their occupation is and why they have made so many trips to a similar destination.

“If we see a traveller who has been to Kathmandu four times in a year and finds it hard to name landmarks in the city, it raises a flag for us. We determine from his profession whether his salary can even afford so many trips, then we ask to search their bags,” says Thalho.

Need for young blood

“We have the least manpower, are the least equipped and we haven’t had any recruits in 22 years,” says Thalho, adding that many of the other forces operating at the airport cause more harassment to passengers as they don’t have the same training or calibre as the customs officers.

The International Monetary Fund reportedly told customs to get rid of personnel a couple decades back but they refused, instead choosing to freeze recruitment of field officers. As a result, Thalho said that there are no field officers in the customs below the age of 40 and that they desperately need young blood and energy.

Thalho admits that there is corruption in customs and also lots of “favours” being done for people. “During many investigations we have seen that the trail of money and supply goes up to very powerful people, and in those matters, things are kept quiet.”

The incentives and rewards system for customs, according to Thalho, is not adequate enough and thus, there is a desperate need for new blood and incentives programs to rid the agency of corruption.

“We don’t have guns, the best logistical support, or the latest equipment, but we are still giving results. We need to recruit about 200-250 young field officers and we need retired officers to give training and their experience to younger field officers. Only then will the customs become good.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2012.