The president of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves, announced last week the implementation of a project to place scanners in ports to combat smuggling and tackle drug trafficking.
Chaves indicated in a press conference that the country will invest $35 million to install nine scanners to prevent the shipment or entry of drugs in containers and contraband products in ports and border areas reports ticotimes.net
These devices will be distributed as follows: 2 new scanners at APM Terminals, one at the port of Japdeva, two at Puerto Caldera, one at the Paso Canoas border post, one at Peñas Blancas, plus two mobile devices that will be used mainly to cover the Las Tablillas post in the Nothern Region and Sixaola.
The scanners will have the capacity to scan about 150 trucks per hour, so there will be no delay in the entry and exit of cargo at the posts where they will be installed. The new scanners have as a novelty the possibility of checking both the containers and the trucks that transport them, explained the Presidential Office.
The scanning service will be provided by Radiográfica Costarricense S.A. (RACSA), who will offer a complete service at a lower price than at present since the cost of the fee per revision will not exceed $25.
The use of new scanners is the result of an inter-institutional effort involving the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG), the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Public Security (MSP), the Ministry of Foreign Trade (COMEX), and the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS).