114,000 unchecked containers

He calculated this to be 40 percent of the more than 280,000 containers which pass through the port annually. The unchecked containers are deemed as belonging to ‘captains of industry, the JSC was told. Each JSC member reflected yesterday on their visit last Friday to the Port aimed at seeing firsthand the security, or lack thereof, at the port.

De Freitas lamented, “a gaping hole in security” posed by the Port’s physical layout including a mere eight-foot perimeter fence and easy access to the Caricom Wharf by boats. De Freitas deplored a lack of use of existing resources. The JSC, chaired by Minister in the Office of the Attorney General Fitzgerald Hinds, revealed a litany of security lapses at the Port that are likely to facilitate a reported $100 million a year trade in illicit guns.

Hinds said that after talks in 2005, scanners were installed in 2014 but have never been used due to the Public Services Association’s (PSA) fear of risk to human health. Hinds said all other unions at the Port have signed an MOU to use these scanners, which have been ruled safe to use by two unnamed experts, a radiation expert and a nuclear physicist.

Two hand-scanners were at each of the Port and at Point Lisas, yet the citizenry is not benefitting from the security these devices were supposed to bring, Hinds said adding, “We are deeply concerned.” De Freitas said that if the scanners are put to use, it will take five minutes to scan a container and mean that 100 percent of containers could be scanned.

St Augustine MP Prakash Ramdhar said the scanners are non-operational despite a Government instruction to use them, saying, “It’s more than sabotage.” Guns illegally enter TT “wholesale” rather than “retail”, he alerted.

He urged Finance Minister Colm Imbert to get his Customs and Excise Division to upgrade its monitoring at the Port.

Independent Senator Paul Richards said the Port premises allow too much free movement of persons from one area to another, over a vast spread. He said too much reliance is place on key personnel, instead of on systems and technology