Drugs scanner claim rejected

THE head of the Customs drugs unit poured cold water yesterday on claims that drug traffickers monitored the location of the state’s sole mobile scanner to determine which port to send their shipments.

RTÉ’s Prime Time investigation into cocaine last Monday claimed that criminal gangs followed the movements of the €3 million mobile X-ray scanner, which is used to detect concealed cargo, including drugs, at ports.

The programme spoke to an inmate who said that a shipment of drugs had been diverted from one port to another in order to bypass the scanner.