Customs to window-shop for scanners

Sri Lanka Customs officials will be travelling to regional economies to evaluate potential customs scanning systems to be installed in Sri Lanka.

According to sources within the Finance Ministry, Sri Lanka Customs officials will soon be travelling to South East Asian countries to window-shop for large scale x-ray machines. The decision to automate the current manual customs checks has faced stiff opposition from within the Sri Lanka Customs.
Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake however maintains that installing the scanning system will increase customs revenue by US$ 700 million annually. The move is yet to receive Cabinet approval.

The scanning equipment is expected to be installed at all current Sri Lanka Customs checkpoints. However, x-ray machines have many shortcomings, including the inability to count the volume of goods inside a large shipment and methods to spoof them, compared to more sophisticated scanners, sources said.