A file photo of hornbill crowns seized by the Indonesian authorities in Pontianak, West Kalimantan.
KUCHING: The Royal Malaysian Customs Department (Customs) Sarawak has conceded it is constrained by a lack of facilities to stop the smuggling of prohibited items such as ‘red ivories’ or crowns of the highly endangered Helmeted Hornbill through Kuching International Airport (KIA).
Although it has a scanning machine at the KIA’s arrival hall, Customs Sarawak does not have its own scanning machine at the airport’s domestic and international departure halls.
It explained that the scanning machine at the departure halls are run by the Aviation Security (AVSEC) of Malaysia Airport Sdn Bhd (MASB), and the AVSEC personnel will inform Customs if they come across suspicious items in passengers’ luggage.
“Those Customs officers at the KIA have done their duties in accordance with established procedures and orders.
“However, there is no denying that there is a possibility of smuggling prohibited items through mode of operations beyond the limits of supervision of Customs and other security agencies.
“The close cooperation of every agency including the police, MASB, the Immigration Department and the airlines is crucial to strengthen security at KIA,” said the statement.
The statement came in response to The Star’s news report on Aug 30, which claimed that syndicates preferred KIA as the gateway to get illegal consignments abroad as the authorities there, including Customs and airport security officials, had never dealt or seized such illegal items before.
Quoting source, the report said wildlife syndicates are using human couriers to smuggle the casques across the Kalimantan-Sarawak border and ship these harvested hornbill helmets through KIA.
The source had also told The Star that because Indonesian wildlife authorities had intensified their enforcement activities at key airports from Kalimantan, such as Pontianak Supadio airport and Balikpapan Sepinggan airport in recent months, it has forced these syndicates to turn to Malaysia.
However, according to Customs Sarawak, it has yet to find any smuggling of hornbill parts in and out of Sarawak by travelers at the airport, including when random checks are done on trans-boundary passengers in accordance with the department’s Customs Order No. 90 Procedures.
Following the claims made in the report, Customs Sarawak said it has already directed officers at KIA to tighten up control at the domestic and international departure areas by working together with AVSEC officials handling the scanning machines, especially to check those coming from ‘high risk’ destinations.
“The intelligence branch of our Enforcement Division has also been directed to do intelligence work and strictly monitor the situation to ensure the authenticity of what was alleged in the report,” it added.
It also explained that while Customs does not have a scanning machine at the departure halls of KIA, the passengers on transit will be required to scan their luggage through scanning machines operated by Customs before they board their connecting flights.
“Up to Aug 2019, more than RM130,000 in duties were collected through this inspection. This showed that Customs officers at the KIA are always aware and on the look out for prohibited items,” reiterated the statement.