Despite making improvements in protecting the nation’s borders over the last quarter, the Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) says it is still facing challenges with under-invoicing and attempts to import and export contraband.

The director in charge of Cargo Imaging at JCA, Kingsley Henry, gave an overview of the type and value of seizures made for the April to June 2016 period by Customs’ Border Protection Unit and its five sub units – Contraband Enforcement Team, Intelligence Analysis Unit, Investigations Unit, Risk Management Unit and the Cargo Imaging Unit.

“The main objective of the unit is to facilitate the agency’s objective of its border protection mandate, and so we focus on primarily stemming the flow of contraband and undeclared items across our national borders, and that may be items that are being exported or items being imported,” Henry said at a press briefing at Customs’ head office in Newport East, Kingston, last week.

“Over the first quarter of the financial year 2016/17, we had some seizures, and one of those seizures was made at our air cargo facilities at one of our international airports. The seizure involved two firearms, two magazines and one telescopic scope for the weapon,” he said.

The items, he said, were being conveyed in an amplifier and were detected as a result of some new equipment Customs had acquired.

Henry also said that three firearms, 1,011 assorted rounds of ammunition as well as five nine millimetre magazines and two M-16 magazines were found at one of the agency’s marine warehouses in Kingston.

In addition to firearm and ammunition seizures, Henry stated that Customs confiscated two bags and three cartons containing 109 parcels of marijuana in a container destined for Suriname and which was in transit.

“That is one of the major challenges we still have. So the issue is not just containers that are leaving Jamaica being contaminated with contraband, but containers that are in transit; that continues to be a serious problem that we are facing,” Henry told journalists.

On the matter of under-invoicing, Henry said that the last quarter saw additional duties of over $120 million being collected after evaluation and reverification.

“There’s also the misuse of free code 33.20, and it’s kind of interesting that we are in the time of Olympics now, because this free code refers to sporting goods. And what is expected is, if an entity is importing goods related to sports that are listed in the schedule to the Customs Act, they can apply this free code, and so some of the duties will be exempt,” Henry said.

According to Henry, the JCA is now facing situations where entities that are involved in sending certain sporting goods, particularly sneakers, are attempting to use the free code, but their intention is not to use it for the particular sport, but to sell the goods in commercial outlets.

He added that through the risk management process, they have managed to secure almost $2 million in additional duties from the misuse of this free code.

Henry also told the press briefing that what a lot of people may be surprised to know is that post offices are also being used as a transit point for cocaine and small quantities of marijuana. He said that over the last quarter, more than 127 narcotic seizures were made at post offices.

“We understand at the Jamaica Customs Agency and the Border Protection Unit that this work is not one that any one law enforcement entity can undertake, and part of what we have done is sought to deepen the collaboration with other law enforcement agencies, both locally and internationally,” Henry stated.

“One of those joint operations was a cruise port operation involving the Jamaica Customs Agency, the Jamaica Constabulary Force, and the Port Authority of Jamaica, and in that operation we seized three magnetic card readers/writers with encoders, as well as 20 blank swipe cards,” he said, “and if you are aware, you would understand these cards can be used to skim your credit/debit card details and to clone your cards and be used to deplete your sums from your account or to run up your credit card balances.”

There was, he said, another joint operation over the last quarter between the Jamaica Defence Force and the United States Coast Guard, which led to the seizure of over 600 kilogrammes of cocaine valued at more than US$15 million.