New Port Control Unit awaits legal approval

by Kurulu Kariyakarawana

The new Customs Port Control Unit set up to fight the narcotic menace, awaits the green light to function as the newly drafted regulations presented by the Finance Minister President Mahinda Rajapaksa are yet to be approved by the competent legal officer.

The new Port Control Unit set up on May 19 under the supervision and patronage of World Customs Organisation (WCO) and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) will not commence operations until the regulations empowering the activation of the unit awaits the approval of the competent legal officer attached to the Finance Ministry itself.

'The Draft Regulations for Advance Sea Cargo Reporting' which is necessary to activate the Cargo Targeting System, a chief component of the Port Control Unit has been ordered by the President Rajapaksa under the powers vested in him, to come into effect by June 14 midnight.

Customs sources told the Sunday Observer that legal bodies within the Ministry of Finance responsible for the authorisation of these regulations were reportedly "sitting on the papers" ignoring the immediate national requirement.

A top level security council held under the supervision of Chief of National Intelligence of Ministry of Defence Major General Kapila Hendawitharana attended by senior officials of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, Deputy Director of Customs Narcotics and Port Control Athula Lankadeva, Sri Lanka Navy Chief of Staff Rear Admiral Jayantha Perera and DIG in charge of State Intelligence Service Chandra Wakishta, understood the urgency to activate this unit to fight the growing threat of smuggling bulks of narcotics into the country by international drug cartels or perhaps using Colombo as a transshipment hub.

Sri Lanka Customs recently received equipment and sophisticated software worth millions of dollars to run the Port Control Unit, the third country in the world to house such technology.