Customs Area Controller (CAC) Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Port Harcourt Area ll Command Onne, Comptroller Auwal Mohammed has announced the receipt of a mobile cargo scanning machine.

The Onne Customs boss said henceforth, the business of cargo clearing will assume an enhanced and speedy dimension than hitherto.

Describing the arrival of the scanner as a positive milestone in the service efforts to modernise Customs operations, Mohammed said the non-intrusive container scanning operation has the capacity to examine more than two hundred containers daily, compared to a hundred containers being done previously.

A statement by the Command Public Relations Officer, Ifeoma Onuigbo quoted the Mohammed as saying that the delivery of the scanner is part of NCS modernisation agenda, even as he thanked the Customs Comptroller General, Col. Hameed Ali (Rtd) for “his unrelenting drive in modernising the Nigeria Customs Service.”

Speaking while taking delivery of the scanner, Mohammed said, “Before the arrival of the scanner, examinations of cargoes were usually done manually and physically, whereby containers were positioned by the terminal operators. Then they provide gang of labourers while officers of the Nigeria Customs Service and other agencies come for the examination.

“They cut off the seal manually, and then the contents inside containers are discharged manually by the labourers. Then, inspection or examinations are conducted by officers and other stakeholders. This takes time, sometimes because of the packing of the good in the container; and this is an examination that is done to confirm that declaration made by the agent or importer tallies with the content of the container.

“Virtually everything has to be carried or moved out of the container, then back into the container before examination is concluded. So it is cumbersome. It is time consuming, and not much containers are properly examined on a daily basis.”

He continues: “So with the coming of the scanner, which is a non-intrusive examination apparatus, examination will now be conducted with the use of x-ray.”

The Controller added that officers already trained on scanning operation will undergo refresher training to update them on the latest technology.

According to him, any consignment found during image analysis to be containing suspected prohibition or concealments will be quickly referred for physical examination.  The scanner, a product of Nuctech, was brought by Maersk Karun vessel from Shanghai China with model number MT1213DE.