UNDETECTED CRIMES

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, second left, and Customs chief Jose Mafnas, left, present a plaque of appreciation to Oceania Customs Organization operations manager Tevita Tupuo. (Jon Perez)

Spanning a geographical layout of more than 3 million square miles in the Pacific Ocean, it is no wonder that undetected crimes are the biggest challenge facing the Oceania Customs Organization.

The organization has 24 members made up of independent countries and territories that cover 3,291,903 square miles all over the Pacific.

The organization’s operations manager, Tevita Tupuo, said that money-laundering activities are among the undetected crimes that are hard to spot. Tupuo was on Saipan last week and facilitated a five-day seminar for CNMI customs officials at Kanoa Resort’s Latte Stone room.

“One of the big challenges is the revenue component since financial crimes continue to happen within the region. There’s heaps of money laundering activities that go under the radar,” Tupuo told members of the media during a break in Friday’s training.

He said that customs offices should also be given access by financial institutions to assist them with their investigation. “They go undetected simply because we don’t have information of these financial activities.”

“Customs offices must also have access to that information so they could make proper analyses on financial activities. That is something that we are trying to work on right now,” he added.

Drugs and human trafficking are the two other criminal activities that OCO monitors, with syndicates now operating at the multinational level in the region and the entire Pacific. “There are still human trafficking cases and they tend to occur more around the Pacific.”

“They find the Pacific as a perfect playground for them to operate, like moving around from New Zealand to the United States for example. The threats are alarming and we need to have a more proactive approach toward it.”

Although OCO forbids racial profiling, Asians are mostly involved in these types of cases, like bringing in illegal substances—cocaine, heroine, and crystal meth or “ice” that is the number one drug smuggled.

“Intelligence gathering and sharing information are the keys in how officers can be proactive in identifying the types of risks, given the geographical challenges that we have in securing our maritime borders,” said Tupuo. “The key is getting the right information like the flights and boats that are coming in. For customs officials to identify the high-risk passengers or cargo that are coming in and deploy all resources. Racial profiling is not allowed but right now, traffic is coming from Asian tourists.”

Close collaboration by customs agencies under OCO must always be in place. “It really comes down to how the agencies collaborate with one another. OCO is providing information across the Pacific so agencies could come together and share it.”

He highlighted training that is centered on enforcement, intelligence, investigation, and audit. “To get the awareness of risks involved not only in the CNMI but across the Pacific and how to improve collaboration in sharing specific information”—that is key.

Tupuo added that customs officers should take pride in what they do. “It is encouraging to know they are willing to learn. They are the first line of defense from what’s coming in to the country. They should take pride in what they do. We’re going to bring in more intelligence and investigation experts from Australia and New Zealand.”

Other OCO members are the CNMI, Australia, New Zealand, Norfolk Islands, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, French Polynesia, Tonga, New Caledonia, American Samoa, Guam, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Wallis and Futuna, Palau, Timor Leste, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, FSM, Tuvalu, and Cook Islands.