Informant tip off pays:

Nabbing a spooky smuggler

By kurulu Kariyakarawana

A Customs official on duty at the Bandaranaike International Airport on one busy weekday evening received an anonymous call on his mobile phone. The caller who didn't divulge his name gave a description of a passenger who would walk through the Customs gates at a scheduled time concealing gold nuggets in his rectum. But before hanging up the caller gave a four digit code, which was jotted down by the officer.

Customs officials inspect an illegal rosewood consignment

Seized gold nuggets

As warned by the anonymous caller the Customs official warmed up to to receive the suspicious traveller who would enter the airport through the Arrivals Gate. He informed his unit members and necessary action was taken to seize the passenger upon arrival.

Making the warning a reality a man fitting the description given by the caller entered through the Customs gates and was immediately taken in for a random check-up. Within moments the agents realised that the man was carrying concealed gold in his body.

Millions of rupees worth of gold nuggets were recovered from the arriving passenger who tried to smuggle it into the country under the nose of the Customs officials. If not for the timely tip off they would have missed a golden opportunity to thwart a major smuggling attempt by a daring passenger.

It’s not a secret how information or informants play a crucial role nowadays in assisting fighting crime. Most of the major scale smuggling of contraband in to the country would have gone unnoticed if it is not for a correct piece of information at the right time. Therefore the crime fighters have introduced various schemes of rewards to encourage these informants, who would play a silent and secretive role.

The Sri Lanka Customs Department is an ideal example for this and have detected a considerable number of major detections in the recent history acting on information. Most of the cases were busted with solid information received prior to the detection and it enabled the officials act on time to round up the perpetrators. And it’s not millions but billions of rupees they have been paid for their valuable informants assisted in identifying the criminals.

Customs officials at the Kankesanthurai Customs Unit seized the largest gold slab consignment weighing over 250 kilograms worth billions of rupees a few weeks ago.

Explaining the situation Customs Spokesman Director Leslie Gamini told the Sunday Observer that informants play a pivotal role in the field in assisting the officials to control smuggling and various other unlawful activities.

According to him there are two types of informants- anonymous and an informant who reveals his identity. But both types are concerned about the result of their valuable information and the reward being paid to them following a successful detection.

There are many ways how an informant would approach an official to pass his information. Those are either by sending a letter, by way of a facsimile, an email, a SMS or through a telephone call. Sometimes they would even meet an officer in person and tip him off about an unlawful activity.

It is the paramount duty of a law enforcement official to safeguard his informant and his identity. Once information is received, for a example through the telephone, it is important to check the genuineness of that tip off. Some people for various reasons, perhaps to take vengeance from a rival, would give wrong information just to put that person in a difficult or an embarrassing situation.

Therefore, checking the veracity of the information is vital. For this the officials calls back on the number they received the anonymous call from and establish a trust that it was the right person. After verifying the information by cross checking, they come to an understanding with the informant that is how he would be recognised on a future date to grant his reward, if the information leads to a successful detection.

Usually informants give a code name, a number to identify them that only the officer who would be contacted to give the information will know the code name. The officer is not legally and ethically bound to reveal the details or identity of his informant even in the most extreme scenario. Once the details are received from an informant the officer will fill a form stating the data including the particular code and will seal it in an envelope. The envelope will then be handed over to his immediate boss, who will keep it in a safe locker.

In some cases officials ask them to send one half in local currency and the other half with the sender. Once the case is closed and the rewards are to be paid, the informant is asked to come up with the half of currency notes to match with the half previously sent to the official. This is a fool proof system followed by many law enforcement agents and not only the Customs.

Once the details of the informant are kept in a safe, the officer will inform his superior about the information and immediate action will be taken to commence an investigation.

The detections, arrests and seizures will then be made on the information supplied by the caller.

When a successful detection is made the goods or the contraband will be sold at a public auction depending on the types of goods. Narcotics, weapons and other hazardous items will never be included in that category. But goods like jewellery, gold and other goods will be sold and the revenue will be earned. The seizure of goods into the custody is called forfeit in the Customs vocabulary. Also a fine will be imposed on the offenders and the revenue would be generated.

Fifty percent of the revenue generated will be given to the state, whereas 60% of the remaining half will be paid to the informant. Information will be categorised into three degrees according to the Customs system. First Degree Information is considered where the most accurate details of an offender is supplied to the officials. For a tip off with incomplete details will be called a Second Degree Information and mere information is considered Third Degree Information.

sixty percent of the remaining 50% of revenue will be paid to a successful First Degree Information and the remaining 40% will be paid to the officers who are investigating. 40% of the remaining 50% will be paid to a Second Degree Information and 20% of the remaining 50% will be paid to Third Degree Information and the remaining 80% will be divided amongst the officials who were involved in the investigation, who did a major role working on mere information.

Once everything is completed the informant will be informed that his reward is ready to be claimed. According to the Customs law an informant should be paid his reward with clean cash and no documents or cheques involved in that. Also the reward is made only in the presence of two officials, who are the Director General of Customs and the officer who received the information. Before the payment of reward a bulk of cash depending on the magnitude of the revenue earned from a case will be brought to a secret location (maybe a place nominated by the informant) by the Customs Shroff who is authorised to bring the money.

Once the money is placed the shroff will leave the premises leaving room only for the three men. The

payment is then paid after carefully checking the

code verified by the informant or after producing the other half of the currency note.

According to Director Gamini sometimes there are disputes when two informants try to claim for a successful detection and the reward following. There are even instances that the cases went up to a court of law to ascertain the actual informant.

In a rare instance an informant requested his reward to be paid to him at the Galle Face Green, where the Director General of Customs obeyed the instructions and went there. Today supplying information for law enforcement authorities has risen to a very high level where the informants would do that for a job and pass time. Skilled and specialised individuals would act initiate as private detectives and will gather information related various international smuggling syndicates.

They will then supply the information agencies expecting rewards. This is the future of modern crime fighting methods and the sophisticated role of informants as seen today.

Sri Lanka Customs Department request you to supply any valuable information to their hotline 0112 471471 of the Central Intelligence Directorate.