Effective anti-smuggling operation: World Bank plan wants FBR to hire young workforce

The World Bank (WB) has chalked out an anti-smuggling plan for the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) under which the customs authorities would hire young and energetic workforce to conduct anti-smuggling operations at borders as compared to existing old aged customs staff.
Business Recorder learnt here on Wednesday that the WB review mission has submitted a report on anti-smuggling to the FBR for compliance. According to the WB report, young customs officers must be recruited for carrying out anti-smuggling activities as compared to existing workforce of 45 to 50 years of age.
The WB has said that the customs department has an aging work force in its Enforcement and Preventive work area with limited injection of younger staff for many years. The average age of staff engaged for customs enforcement and preventative activities is between 45 and 50 years of age. Advice was received there has been no new intake of grade 16 and below staff for many years. If this situation continues unabated customs will ultimately not be able to undertake many of the physical challenges associated with anti-smuggling operations. This is unsustainable and requires attention, the WB stated.
The report said that the work of customs' specialist anti-smuggling unit is aimed at detection and prevention of customs-related offences, combating illegal trade activities across national borders, reducing and preventing revenue leakage and information analysis in support of these aims.
Some key elements of any national anti-smuggling program are the responsibility of the customs administration. They include improving the efficiency of cargo clearance processes and procedures; reducing the numbers of supporting documents necessary for customs clearance of goods; introducing electronic lodgement of goods declarations and applying effective penalties for offences.
Other important elements of such programs affect all agencies operating at national borders, including upgrading and outfitting selected border crossing points; provision of vehicle and passenger x-ray units and use of electronic weigh bridges and surveillance systems. They also include consolidating the number of agencies operating at border crossing points and introducing the concept of a "single-office" or "single-window" with ongoing investment in information technologies and telecommunications infrastructure.
The WB observed that investigation and prosecution of commercial revenue frauds require specialised skills and capacity. The commercial revenue frauds are increasingly sophisticated, often involving high levels of organisation, international connections, "front" companies, false documentation trails and the like. If customs is to be successful in combating offences in this area it requires the appropriate skills and capacity within the organisation. This is a challenge faced by many customs administrations. There is no reason to believe that FBR (Customs) cannot, in time, develop the necessary expertise. However, further investment in equipment (particularly computers and analytical software) and recruitment of well trained intelligence analysts and investigators will be required. It will also require greater coordination of its intelligence, investigations and audit capabilities than what exists today so as to ensure criminal cases are detected and appropriately investigated to ensure successful prosecution.
The WB said that the integration of operational customs intelligence into the automated selection of goods declarations for special attention remains fairly ineffective. Consideration needs to be given to providing secure and restricted access to a significantly improved, customs selectivity capability within customs goods declaration clearance systems. Such operational access is an essential risk management tool for key members of investigations and anti-smuggling work areas to enhance operational effectiveness of staff.
An internationally marketed intelligence analysis software suite of tools would be of significant value to the intelligence, investigative, vigilance and audit work areas of FBR and should be evaluated for potential future use. Intelligence analysis software tools are used extensively by intelligence agencies, customs administrations and police forces around the world.
The WB has recommended to the FBR to recruit young personnel into the more physical side of the customs business, namely enforcement and anti-smuggling. Secondly, the FBR should develop specialised capacity for intelligence analysis, complex investigations and successful prosecution of commercial frauds throughout FBR directorates. Thirdly, the FBR should design and implement a revised intelligence model, suitably integrated with risk management profiling. Fourthly, the FBR should evaluate use of intelligence analysis software.