Undetected smuggling through major ports including MRIA:

Customs BCNP needs more staff

By Kurulu Kariyakarawana

The Biodiversity, Cultural and National Heritage Protection Division (BCNP) is an important unit of the Sri Lanka Customs Department which is responsible for monitoring, prevention and detection of sensitive items in the areas of archaeology, plants, minerals, fisheries, birds and genes being smuggled in or out of the country.

Elephant tusks

Pangolin scales smuggled for medicine

Coins – A portion of ancient coins

Birds – Cages of live birds

The unit which earlier operated at the head office of the Sri Lanka Customs Department faced a big challenge when its officers were ordered to be deployed at the Departure Terminal of the Bandaranaike International Airport and the Air Cargo Verification Terminal (Export) since September 1, 2012.

According to the Customs new reform scheme, the Biodiversity Protection Unit has been expanded as the Biodiversity, Cultural and National Heritage Protection Division with an allocated cadre of 22 officials comprising a Deputy Director of Customs (DDC), a Superintendent of Customs (SC), six Deputy Superintendents (DSC), 10 Assistant Superintendents (ASC), two Inspectors (IC), a KKS (peon) and a driver.

However, the problem arose when only 15 officials were assigned to the unit, currently comprising the DDC, SC, two DSCs, seven ASCs, two ICs, a KKS and a driver.

A senior Customs Officer who wished to remain anonymous revealed to the Sunday Observer that the present number of officers is not sufficient to conduct its daily operations at the main entry and exit points of the country.

He said only the Departure Terminal of the BIA and the Air Cargo Verification Terminal (Export) could be manned by the assigned cadre at present. The Arrival Terminal of BIA and the Air Cargo Verification Terminal (Import) and the entry/exit points of the newly launched Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) have been neglected by the BCNP due to lack of staff. Also, the cargo handling section of the Colombo Harbour is being monitored by the same number of officers.

Established on July 17, 1993 under the name Customs Biodiversity Protection Unit, the Customs BCNP Division was the first unit of its kind in the world to be launched under a Customs Department. Although due credit was never given to Sri Lanka for this, the Green Custom Initiative was formed afterwards under the World Customs Organisation following our concept.

The Green Customs Initiative is an unprecedented partnership of international organisations cooperating to prevent illegal trade in environmentally sensitive commodities and to facilitate a legal trade for them. Even countries such as Britain launched their customs biodiversity protection units following this.

Irrespective of the number of staff currently assigned to the unit, the BIA alone requires a separate unit with at least 16 officers to maintain a 24 hour duty at its arrivals, departures and air cargo terminals. If the BCNP operations are to be initiated at the Mattala airport another eight specially trained officers are needed. The issue of lack of staff of the BCNP division has been brought to the notice of four different Director Generals of Customs during the past decade, but has been of no avail. No solid system has been introduced to recruit a steady cadre of officers to the BCNP yet.

Although the department currently possesses a cadre of approximately 2,000 officers deployed in various sections poor attention is shown towards the BCNP, the sources said.

It is learnt that most of the officers avoid this unit as it is not a "financially attractive" or a "lucrative department" where one could earn an extra buck. Besides, the specialised training and commitment required is another reason that many customs official are not willing to join voluntarily.

However, detections carried out by the Customs BCNP cannot be underestimated as one of the largest smuggling rackets in the country's history was busted by the BCNP Divisions. A multimillion dollar racket of smuggling gene chromosomes of a number of endemic plants allegedly to the USA was exposed and suspects apprehended by the BCNP in March, 2008.

Also, a large consignment of Kothala Himbutu weighing over 300 kilograms was detected at the BIA while attempting to smuggle them to Japan recently.

Customs conducted 29 detections in 2012 in the areas of wildlife, antiquities and minerals, 25 of which were directly conducted by the BCNP. Of the 25 cases 18 had been detected during September to December when six new staff members were absorbed to the unit when the department recruited a batch of 150 in September.

The cases involved attempts to smuggle items such as reptile skins, ancient coins, rock phosphate, sandalwood, pangolin scales, live birds, bird nests, cardamom, elephant tusks, ostrich eggs and live lobsters out of the country sans permits. A rare instance of smuggling Rutile Quarts, a mineral composed primarily of titanium dioxide was also among the detections made during last year.

The officer said that intensive training and commitment led to the high number of detections with a small staff during a short period, and if adequate manpower was provided many more cases would have been rounded up.

Admitting the fact that there is a shortage of staff Customs Spokesman Deputy Director Leslie Gamini told the Sunday Observer that with the expansion of new areas and latest additions such as the MRIA, the need for trained officials increased.

Referring to the fact that only the Departures Terminal and Air Cargo Terminal (Export) are currently manned by the BCNP official he said attention is focused more on valuables or prohibited items being smuggled out of the country rather than the instance of smuggling in such items.

Not only BCNP official but all Customs officials have been instructed to act in the instance of smuggling out environmentally and archaeologically sensitive items, DDC Gamini said.

However, concerned parties stressed that failure to take prompt action to strengthen the BCNP unit would cause it to die a natural death thereby causing a great loss to the country's economy as well as biodiversity and archaeology.