Advance Passenger Information could do wonders tracking drug smugglers – border agencies

Colombo, April 16 (Daily Mirror) - The border surveillance agents will have to rely on traditional methods that enabled the recent arrest of a female Madagascar national with swallowed cocaine worth over Rs.34 million, whereas an Advance Passenger Information system at airport could do wonders in tracking down drug smugglers, the Daily Mirror learns.

This came to light when the Customs officials intercepted a female Madagascar national arriving in Sri Lanka during Avurudu holidays and trying to smuggle in over 800grams of cocaine by carrying them in her abdomen.

The officials have made the detection relying solely on the traditional methods of tracking down drug smugglers when a leading airport in the region like the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) should be equipped with an API system like any other international airport.

Advance Passenger Information software would assist the border agencies like the Immigration and Emigration Department or Sri Lanka Customs to crosscheck whatever the advance information they get from inbound or outbound passengers against national or international watch lists.

These border agencies would get airline passenger detail lists for every inbound and outbound trip from the BIA and then they will have to manually cross-examine all these data to identify any instances of smuggling.

Customs detectives who did not wish to be named said if they are equipped with an API system, which is a mandatory feature at any modern airport, then the wonders they could do in tracking down smugglers is immense.

However, an API system was introduced to the Ministry of Defence in 2021 under an International Organisation for Migration (IOM) project called the BRAC (Border Risk Assessment Centre) at Sethsiripaya, which was funded by the Australian Government.