THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) will soon provide scanners to key airports. The move mirrors what has been done for the water sector.
BOC is looking at installing or replacing old passenger and cargo scanners at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport, Subic Bay, the Cebu-Mactan and the Davao International airports.
At the sidelines of the anniversary celebration of the BOC X-ray scanning unit, project head Atty. Lourdes Mangaoang said at least 10 scanners may be needed for different airports. The scanners will be smaller and more mobile than their seaport counterparts.
The BOC is studying how to acquire the units, whether these should be sourced from China through a government-to-government loan, as was the case for scanners now in seaports, or from other suppliers.
The agency also has yet to determine the scanning rates and the percentage of cargoes subject to scanning.
Last year, the BOC completed installation of 30 non-intrusive container x-ray scanners in different international ocean gateways.
Since the introduction of the scanning system, the BOC foiled attempts to smuggle P2 billion worth of goods.
