Outsmarting smugglers: Protect your company, cargo and reputation

Just saying no to drugs may be easier than you think. Following a few simple tips lets smugglers know you refuse to be a victim..

In the November ’98 issue of AIM, we told you how Fruit of the Loom became an inadvertent drug smuggler - and warned the same thing could happen to you. This month, we address this growing trend among smugglers to use legitimate shipments for their nefarious purposes, and we offer strategies you can use to protect yourself.

Drug traffickers have made an important discovery: They face fewer risks smuggling narcotics through legal channels than carrying it across the border themselves. "The narco-trafficker is quickly realizing that one way to introduce narcotics into the United States is by compromising a legitimate shipment," explains Allen Gina, director of industry partnerships for the U.S. Customs anti-smuggling division.

Customs generally investigates less reputable shippers, and everybody knows Mattel or Fruit of the Loom aren't in the narcotics business. Traffickers know this, too. If they piggyback on a legitimate shipment, their chances of getting through undetected improve. Even if drugs are found, odds are the trafficker won't be caught.

Since a reputable company is involved, Gina says, "the investigation almost always go nowhere ," because it's almost impossible to track the drugs back to the source.

Customs responded by working to improve security on international carriers. It initiated the Carrier Initiative Program, which encourages international shippers to implement strict security protocols. (For more on this program, see the November ’98 issue of AIM.)

But the traffickers adjusted and began adding contraband long before the international shipper received the cargo. By the time the containers reach the ship, the drugs are carefully hidden away.

Weak links

"We are consistently finding that security quickly diminishes when the product leaves the manufacturing plant en route to the place of transportation," Gina explains. And with reduced security comes increased risk. "The weak link in all of this is the driver," cautions attorney John Politis of Politis & Politis, a Los Angeles firm specializing in Customs law. "The driver can pick up the load … and make a stop, they put drugs on it, and … still meet his scheduled arrival."

Tip: Check out the trucking company that carries the goods from the plant to the port. And then check out the one that carries the goods from the port to the distribution center.

"The perverse irony of it is the [international] carriers and all their security measures are providing significant security for [the] shipment of narcotics," Gina says.

Tip: Put tracking mechanisms in place. Know how long it takes to get from the plant to the port (or border) to the distribution center. Make the trucker keep logs or calls you from the road. Consider driving the route(s) yourself. If it takes you three hours, why is your shipment on the road for five?

A quick and dirty job

Of course, contraband can be added without the driver's knowledge. Gina explains how it works.

The traffickers know when a shipment leaves the manufacturing plant for the port (or leave the port for the distribution center on the other end). Then they hire someone to get into the truck and add a duffel bag or two of narcotics into a container. "Somebody can compromise the back of a container and keep the high-security seal intact by popping out the rivets on the handle in the door … in a matter of 60 to 120 seconds," he explains.

If drugs are added on the way to the port, they'll probably be retrieved between the U.S. port and the distribution center. "On route to the distribution center, a lot of guard is let down. [The smuggler's cohort] just takes the duffel bags of dope out of the container."

Tip: Don't relax your security measures once you get through Customs.

If someone at the distribution plant notices the missing garments, they'll generally think it was short-shipped or pilfered. Often companies are either self-insured or they are unwilling to report the loss to insurance, since it's cheaper to eat the cost than pay higher premiums. But theft may not be the problem.

"If there's a trend and you can see that the same shipments coming from the same part of the world are continually missing boxes or coming up short shipped, then you may be being used to transport narcotics," Chambers warns. The missing goods may have been removed to make room for the narcotics.

A few missing cartons are "enough to keep someone a millionaire" if they are replaced with marijuana, adds Paul Chambers, resident agent-in-charge for Customs investigations in Kentucky (site of the Fruit of the Loom bust).

Tip: Look for a pattern of losses. Don't just write them off. "Somebody has to ask questions," Chambers insists.

Don't become a victim

Protect your reputation. "When an industry [does not have] good internal controls in place, it may end be being a conduit," Chambers warns.

It's just good business sense. By implementing strict security measures, Gina says, you become "the house with the dog in the back yard and the burglar alarm." Smugglers will think twice before targeting your shipments.

Perception is reality, both for the smugglers and the public. "[Remember] when the sweatshop labor and Kathy Lee Gifford fiasco hit the news?" Chambers asks. "This needs the same kind of reaction. They've got to think it's important that they don't get used unwittingly by drug traffickers. It must become important enough to institute good internal controls."

The only way to be sure that you are not an accidental smuggler is to investigate. Look at your plants. Review your security procedures.

Band together. Through the Business Anti-Smuggling Coalition, Customs teaches companies how to look for weak links and provides access to approaches that effectively stem the flow of smuggled drugs. It often involves thinking like a criminal in order to outsmart the traffickers.

Gina encourages apparel manufacturers to join, noting that by examining deficiencies in the import process and implementing the most effective practices of other industries, business can reduce the likelihood that their shipments will be used as narcotics smuggling vehicles. Last year, according to Gina, industry partnership programs led to the seizure of 63,000 lbs. of narcotics.

The program, he stresses, is business-directed; Customs serves as a resource and facilitator. (To learn more, call the Anti-Smuggling Division at (202) 927-0520.)

Strategies, tactics and questions. It takes more than signing on to a program to make a difference; it requires action. Chambers and Gina encourage apparel manufactures to review their entire import process, and offer some tips and questions to help assess and improve security.

Check - and recheck - seals. Customs asks carriers about for seal integrity. So should you. Does the carrier ensure the integrity of all compartments and containers (open and empty) using serially numbered seals, locks or other devices? Are all unused seals accounted for and safeguarded? (And while you are at it, check seal integrity on your end, too.)

Are detection techniques in place? Do your carriers use drug-detection devices (such as dogs) before loading cargo?

Are discrepancies reported? Is there a protocol to ensure that all bills of lading and other documentation are complete and accurate? Do carriers (and your distribution center) report discrepancies to Customs? Is unmanifested cargo promptly reported?

How long does the cargo stand unattended? Does the carrier load the cargo immediately? What are the contingency plans if the cargo misses the vessel? "A container at rest is a container at risk," warns Gina.

Does the carrier hold unannounced security checks at least once a month?

Use clout. Major manufactures have influence with carriers. If you aren't satisfied with current protocols, request improvements.

Ask that your containers to be stored below deck or door-to-door (so the doors are not exposed).

"We can continue to make arrest and make seizures," Gina says. "But unless we can get the trade…to help us, the narco-trafficker is going to continue to compromise [legitimate shipments]."

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