Zimra upgrades security to curb smuggling

Association of Zimbabwe to attain International Standards Organisation certification as it strives to attain world class standards.
Appearing before the Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion recently, Zimra Commissioner in Charge of Customs and Excise, Mr Happias Kuzvinzwa, said the new security measures were meant to stem drug and contraband smuggling.
“We have now seen an upsurge of people using this country as a transit route for contraband and narcotics to South Africa and abroad.
“We will be introducing a canine section so you will be seeing sniffer dogs at our border posts and we are already working with the Airforce of Zimbabwe on that,” he said.
Mr Kuzvinzwa said drug detection kits would also be introduced.
“We will also introduce drug detection kits that would be used to detect drugs and if a drug is detected will also determine what kind of drug it is,” he said.
Zimra, said Mr Kuzvinzwa, was in the process of acquiring baggage and human body scanners in their endeavour to boost security at the country’s points of entry and exit. He said the human scanners were meant to detect mules that have resorted to swallowing narcotics to evade detection.
Mr Kuzvinzwa said they were also working in conjunction with the Radiation Protection Authority of Zimbabwe to install radiation detectors at border posts to prevent radioactive material from entering the country.
“We will also install radiation detection scanners at ports of entry. We need to install radiation detection mechanisms to detect movement of radioactive material into the country,” he said.
Mr Kuzvinzwa also said the organisation was also working on a vehicle monitoring system to curb car smuggling through alteration of registration plates and were collaborating with other agencies from neighbouring countries on that venture.
Zimbabwe has become central to the movement of goods into and out of Southern Africa and criminals have resorted to using the country as a transit route for smuggling contraband.