UNODC-WCO Container Control Programme: 15 years old and still going strong

Identifying shipments containing prohibited or smuggled goods is somewhat like searching for the proverbial “needle in a haystack” for Customs officers. Let’s keep this image in mind: modern container ships are like massive “haystacks,” each carrying up to 20,000 containers. It’s the same with planes: while the volume of goods they carry is less impressive, it is still substantial, and the rise of e-commerce has generated fleets of all-cargo aircraft carrying thousands of individual parcels across the globe.