Friday, November 7, 2008

Northport scanner operational by January

PORT KLANG: The Selangor Customs Department will start installing a scanner to screen containers at the Northport and expects to have it fully operational by January.

Currently, the department has a scanner at Westport.

Its director Datuk Roslan Yusof said the Westport scanner was helping to speed up the inspection process there as well as save costs for the department.

He said the quicker screening had proven effective in allowing the department to reduce the waiting time for goods being brought into or taken out of the port.

“We can also carry out integrated inspections with other government agencies like the Road Transport Department and this can help to further speed up the release of goods,” he told a press conference yesterday.

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Roslan said the move would help the Port Klang Authority (PKA) meet its target of releasing goods brought in or taken out of the ports within three days or less starting Jan 1.

He said the department would start workshops for shipping and freight agents soon to ensure that they would be ready when the new system was implemented.

At the same press conference, Roslan also announced the seizure of 47,500 cartons of smuggled Texas 5 and Halftime 5 brand cigarettes on Wednesday.

He said no arrests had been made so far but his officers were working to trace the importer.

The contraband was worth RM712,500 with unpaid taxes of about RM3.9mil.

He said the container with the cigarettes was brought in through Westport on Oct 23 but had remained unclaimed until the department scanned it and found the contraband.

Source: Star Online

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