The General Authority of Customs (GAC), Head of the Main Passenger Terminal Department at Hamad International Airport (HIA), Hassan Mohamad Al Hajri, has stressed the high rate of substances seizures at the airport further highlights the positive impact of constant training of customs officials.
Last year the GAC trained 2,994 employees and reported 2,469 seizure reports, including narcotics and banned substances in 2021.
“Many narcotic substances have been seized from travellers of multiple nationalities thanks to the vigilance of customs inspectors,” Al Hajri told the latest issue of the GAC’s newsletter.
He stressed that the awareness of customs officials and their knowledge of new smuggling methods on account of the advanced courses they have participated in from experts had refined their abilities to dispense their duties.
Al Hajri also stated in the newsletter that the customs officials at HIA use the latest equipment besides their cultural awareness knowledge.
“The customs administration at HIA is using the latest devices for examining passengers’ luggage and viscera. The Authority is developing employees by offering them several advanced specialised courses in inspection, studying body language, and security sense. It takes into account the need to facilitate workflow without delay and raising the level of cultural awareness for employees to study the patterns of travellers and how to deal with them,” Al Hajri added.
Meanwhile, the GAC has announced 266,883 total released data for January 2022. In its latest newsletter, the Authority disclosed that 240,543 reports were completed by the Air Cargo and Private Airports administration while the Marine Customs section completed 22,780.
The Authority also released 98 percent of its data within an hour. In January, the largest seizure recorded was 2.042kg of hashish, while 192 seizures were made.
The Livestock Department at the Ministry of Environment emerged as the Best Government Agency in release time with an average of 1.48 hours per release. It replaces the Natural Reserves and Wildlife Department.
