Inside the Box

By Peter Hull (Contact)

The Post and Courier

Monday, October 22, 2007

Customs fights to stem &

64258; ow of illegal imports

Sniffing out suspect cargo at the Port of Charleston is a big job and an important one, but U.S. Customs and Border Protection is up to the task, even when it means getting down on all fours.

At a recent training exercise at the agency's Container Examination Station off Clements Ferry Road, it took eager explosives-sniffing dogs Para and Aaron a matter of seconds to find a trace of smokeless powder, a compound used in bomb-making, planted in a shipment of shotgun shells.

Customs dogs also can be trained to detect narcotics, food, people, even currency, which is a big help to their human bosses, whose work runs the gamut from fighting terrorism to identifying counterfeit goods and stopping products laced with dangerous chemicals from reaching store shelves.

Officers learn to expect the unexpected. Even if a product has all the right markings, it doesn't necessarily mean it's the real deal.

Nearly 2 million containers pass through the Port of Charleston annually, and about 10 percent are sent to the examination station for a closer look. Sometimes that can mean driving a truck through sophisticated X-ray machines. Sometimes an inspection can be more hands-on.

"It's conceivable we'll go down to every box (within a shipment) and open it," said Pam Zaresk, Customs and Border Protection port director in Charleston.

Every now and then, they hit the jackpot.

In July, but only made public this month, Customs officers in Charleston stopped a shipment of 1,440 tubes of toothpaste, which were contaminated with a chemical used in antifreeze, from reaching American bathrooms.

The seizure was a perfect example of a multiagency effort that flagged shipments of the product before it reached U.S. shores, Zaresk said.

It also illustrated how officers learn to spot tell-tale signs that may seem obvious after the fact but can slip past untrained eyes. In the case of the "Crescent" toothpaste, which had packaging similar to the popular Crest brand, the individual boxes were labeled "Made in India," but the shrink wrap around them was marked "Made in China."

Of greater concern was the product's ingredients. Laboratory tests found the toothpaste contained diethylene glycol, or DEG, an organic compound commonly found in antifreeze. DEG is toxic to humans and animals, potentially causing death through kidney failure.

It was a good day for Zaresk and her officers when the lab confirmed they'd stopped a dangerous product from reaching consumers.

"The ultimate goal is to push the border out as far as it goes," Zaresk said.

Higher profile

The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks changed life on the waterfront forever. In the months following the attacks, heightened security at seaports and airports left shippers and passengers spinning.

Six years later, security flows more smoothly, with few day-to-day disruptions for travelers or goods.

Part of that is a result of the Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, or C-TPAT, a voluntary trade program led by Customs for importers, shipping lines and manufacturers.

Members, which include General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Motorola Inc., agree to security plans that help protect international supply chains, such as ensuring that supplier warehouses are locked and shipping containers are sealed in a particular way.

It's that cooperation that helps trade move as swiftly as possible across the docks despite the climate of heightened awareness, said Byron Miller, State Ports Authority spokesman. Customs' focus has broadened since the attacks, he said, but it hasn't shifted.

The agency is part of a layered approach that includes U.S. Coast Guard, port police and other security agencies, all tasked with the mission to let into the country only what's supposed to come in.

To that end, every container at the SPA's five Charleston area terminals now passes through "radiation portal monitors." The technology screens cargo containers for radiation that could be part of a "dirty bomb."

When the technology was introduced, many on the waterfront, especially truckers, envisioned long delays as thousands of tractor-trailers waited to be checked. But a year after the policy was introduced, the Charleston Motor Carriers Association presented Customs officials with a plaque commending them for their efforts to keep delays to a minimum.

Officers remain mindful of the flow of commerce versus security concerns, Miller said. "It was uncharted territory."

Last month, the effort continued with delivery of a state-of-the-art X-ray machine so sophisticated it can see through 14 inches of steel. The new equipment means any cargo container among the millions that pass through the Port of Charleston every year can be singled out for a closer look without opening a door.

If security officials suspect a container is filled with goods other than what's listed on the shipping manifest, it can be taken to the examination station and passed through the OmniView Gantry X-ray Inspection System.

The $5 million magic eye takes just 45 seconds to scan a container. The computer images can be built into a database and shared among Homeland Security agencies nationwide.

Items of interest

But there's way more to the modern role of U.S. Customs than anti-terrorism efforts and high-tech equipment. In many cases, it comes down to instinct.

Counterfeit or "confusingly similar" sports-related textiles are among the biggest issues facing officials in Charleston, said Officer Callen, who, like other Customs officials interviewed for this story, asked not to be identified by first name.

As a recent example, he displayed a Memphis Grizzlies hooded sweatshirt with an authentic-looking logo on the front and a tag inside that said "NFL," with the National Football League's logo. The trouble is, the Grizzlies are a National Basketball Association team.

"This is a completely counterfeit product," Callen said. "By seeing this, we knew right away there was a problem with this shipment."

In the same container, officers found Baltimore Ravens sweatshirts with NFL tags on the sleeves and hologram tags that are supposed to prove the product is authentic. Because suspicions had been raised by the Grizzlies shirts, officers called the relevant league authorities, who determined that the serial number on the hologram was fake.

Then, there was the "Polystation" electronic game console. The shipment was stopped because, among other reasons, there were trademark issues about the box, which sported what were believed to be unlicensed images of "Spider-Man," "Harry Potter" and Nintendo Inc's. "Super Mario."

No machine available today can spot that kind of suspicion-raising inconsistency.

"The human eye is much better at picking up 'items of interest,' " said agriculture specialist Meyer.

It may seem as if there's more every day for Customs to keep its eyes — or noses — on. Every day, officers look at thousands of shipping manifests for red flags that mean a closer look is needed.

In addition to stopping shipments of weapons or explosives, tainted products or poorly made fakes, Customs also plays a front-line role in protecting America's public health. The agency constantly monitors and updates lists of known diseases in countries that export to the U.S.

China, for example, is known to be home to some scary-sounding diseases, such as exotic Newcastle disease, foot-and-mouth disease and classic swine fever. But it doesn't need much for some diseases to jump to a neighboring nation from which it could possibly be exported to the U.S.

"All it takes is one goose to fly from another country," Meyer said.