Mobile scanners for Ports de Valparaiso and San Antonio

Announcing the move, the regional director of Customs, Ana Maria Vallina, said that the tender for the purchase of the equipment had been published this month (June) and she hoped that the equipment could be in operation by the end of this year or the beginning of 2010.

Mounted on trucks to allow them to be easily moved to particular locations according to requirement, the scanning equipment uses X-rays to penetrate containers and trailers in the search for narcotics, drugs and other illicit customs goods, especially undeclared hidden merchandise. The trucks also incorporate a control room for fast non-intrusive analysis of the loads.

Such equipment is already in use at the Chilean ports of Arica, Iquique and in El Paso del Libertadores, but the national goal is to reach a total of ten throughout the country. The two scanners destined for Valparaiso and San Antonio, which will represent an investment estimated at US$2m, will mark the halfway point towards this objective.