Container scanners in the port of Curacao have been broken for two years.
In the seaport of Curaçao, the two mobile goods scanners for drug controls have been defective for about two years. The Curaçao authorities are now working on the repair of one of these mobile scanners. Minister of Justice Ferd Grapperhaus writes that to the Lower House.
Aboutaleb
According to the minister, physical scans are currently being carried out in the absence of the scanners, partly on a sample basis and partly on the basis of information.
Questions were asked about the scanners after Rotterdam’s mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb made critical remarks about this in the media after a visit to Curaçao.
Hato
The bullet scanner for people at Hato airport is only partially operational. According to the minister, the Curaçao authorities do not want to share operational information about when that scanner is used or not and what the reasons are.
Because passengers from flights from Curaçao at Schiphol are subjected to 100% checks, the consequences of the non-functioning of the Hato equipment for the Netherlands are limited, according to the minister.
Border controls and drug controls are an autonomous matter for Curaçao.
More than 590 kilos of cocaine were seized this year in Curaçao. In the whole of 2018 that was 683 kilos and in 2017 it was 200 kilos. The year 2016 was exceptional with a catch of 3,665 kilos. In 2015 it was 697 kilos.
