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.

But Michael Colgan, head of customs drugs law enforcement, said: “I would take that with a pinch of salt, because the shipping route the prisoner mentioned doesn’t actually exist.” He told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that drug smugglers had a lot more to contend with than the scanner. “It’s the customs officers using those tools, fibre optic equipment, detector dogs and chemical analysis that find drugs.”

However, he admitted that criminals were watching them. “It would be naive to think that criminals don’t watch what law enforcement does, because we know that they do.

“What I am saying is they have more to contend with than the X-ray scanner. Detections are made with intelligence from other law enforcement or intelligence we develop ourselves.”

The scanner was launched in February 2006 and operates on a rotational basis in Dublin, Rosslare, Waterford, Cork, Drogheda and Foynes.