By Les Jones, National Director, Border Division, Australian Customs Service

Customs latest weapon in the fight against illicit drugs is a machine so sensitive that it can show existence of drugs where other indicators suggest otherwise. Here is an example.

Customs officers recently identified some marble-topped tables from South East Asia that they had strong reason to suspect were being used to import heroin. Customs new "ionscan" machine confirmed their suspicions but an X-ray of the table tops contradicted the ionscan results.

An X-ray showed nothing because the marble was too dense. So the officers drilled a hole through the marble and pulled the drill bit out, but there was nothing there. That was two technologies giving one finding and another, newer technology, giving a contrary result.

In the finish, the officers made a decision to destroy the marble top table. So they smashed it and there were the layers of heroin—23 kilograms all told—hidden inside the reconstituted marble tops of the tables. The smugglers had encased the heroin with special plastic so that when our officers pulled the drill bit out, it came out clean.

While that is a very good example of where the ionscan is providing some excellent advice and guidance, I don’t think anything is ever going to replace the need for Customs officers to make their own judgements—which they did in this case despite the X-ray and the drill bit providing negative results.

The ionscan is another useful tool that officers can use to support their judgements.