…Sattaur says it will aid in detecting illicit drugs and safeguard tax revenue
The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) yesterday gave the media a demonstration of the new container scanner which has been in operation for the past week and a half, as the agency seeks to bolster its narcotic detection potential for exports, while protecting revenue on the import side.
The US$1M piece of equipment came into the country one year ago but electrical compatibility issues had plagued its installation. It is now fully installed and operational at the Guyana National Shipping Corporation (GNSC) container terminal, La Penitence.
“As you have seen in today’s demonstration, it has been at work. It has been actually doing work that it was designed to do. This scanner, I would hope, would detect some of the illicit items that are going out through containers,” said GRA Commissioner-General Khurshid Sattaur.
He said the scanner would be able to detect drugs in containers, a clear allusion to the recent case where a shipment of logs from Guyana was discovered with cocaine in Jamaica.
Sattaur said that there might eventually be a cost recovery fee applied to shippers. “I am not going to impose it on them. We are still to work out an arrangement to have the cost of running the scanner and the replacement cost shared,” he said. However, he stressed that the focus is the cost to the country if illicit drugs and other undeclared items go undetected.
“We make a determination from the [customs declaration form] whether or not the container would be scanned. We make that determination and the containers are scheduled to come here before they go to the [exporting] wharf. The others are told to go to the wharf, don’t come here,” he said. However, he made it clear that containers destined for the U.S. must be scanned without fail. “I think we have a very good risk management system,” he said, explaining that it is impractical for the GRA to scan the nearly 1,000 containers that are exported from Guyana on a yearly basis.
He said that while it is not envisaged that government will, in like manner, purchase scanners for all the major wharves in Georgetown, members of the shipping fraternity are free to install scanners to comply with the requirements of port facility security and maritime regulations, especially in the wake of heightened terror alertness since September 11, 2001.
Sattaur said that had the government, through the GRA, not put the scanner in place, Guyana might not have had certified wharves, and containerised shipments to the U.S. might not have been possible.
He said it takes ten to 15 minutes to scan a container, and with the export volumes that Guyana now experiences, this throughput rate is more than adequate.
The GRA acquired the container with funding from Millennium Challenge Account (MCA)/United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Government of Guyana.
According to Senior Manager at the GRA, Simone Beckles, the equipment will be utilised as a tool by the Law Enforcement and Investigation Division (LEID), in keeping with the GRA’s standardisation and modernisation programme.
She said that primarily, the GRA proposes to use the scanner to process mainly containerised imports as part of enhancing revenue protection exercises.
“However, based on several factors, including international requirements where the United States of America has initiated the process of mandatory certification for all exports arriving at its ports, in addition, due to the volume of illegal drugs/narcotics being found concealed in containers leaving Port Georgetown, GRA’s mandate Authority was extended by cabinet to include profiling and scanning of containerised exports,” Beckles said.
She said that the new mandate resulted in a reassessment of the customs operations and the intended use of the scanner. “The assessment saw a shift from using the scanner as a revenue collection driven operation to one that is focused on monitoring and profiling of containerised exports, through the use of intelligence, both internally and externally, from agencies such as the Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU),” she said.
Beckles added that as a result, the structure of the Law Enforcement and Investigation Division (LEID) was revised and two additional sections established, namely: Scanner Operations – Import/Export Verification and Drug Enforcement Unit.
“The Unit will inform the exporter by way of letter, of the date and time that they must present the containerised cargo, along with all relevant documents, to the Guyana Revenue Authority scanner terminal for examination, using the scanner.
The GRA, as it worked to identify the best possible location for the scanner, invited the Shipping Association of Guyana to a discussion with representatives of the GRA.
“The consensus was that the location of the scanner terminal would have to be within the locality of georgetown to prevent disruption to trade. An assessment was therefore done of the current accommodation to determine suitability for the processing of containerised exports, and after several factors were considered, it was determined that the Guyana National Shipping Corporation (GNSC) compound was ideal for the placement of the scanner terminal,” the senior manager said.
According to the demonstration, should a scan show something in the container that requires further investigation, the shipper, along with the shipping agent, will be summoned and the container opened in their presence and in the presence of the officials of the Enforcement and Intelligence Unit of the GRA. So far, since the commencement of operation of the scanner, 60 containers have been scanned and one of them detained, pending further investigation.
Officers at the demonstration explained that when the containers are scanned, they are transported under Customs guard to the wharf from where they would be loaded on the exporting vessel.