Mexico to Use X-rays at Checkpoint

Honest truckers should not have any cause for worry, but Mexican officials hope the installation of X-ray equipment at a popular crossing near Texas will give pause to traffickers of contraband as they head south of the border.

Taking a page from the U.S. Customs Service, Mexico will use the equipment to examine cargo trucks at an interior checkpoint 16 miles, or 26 kilometers, north of its main international truck crossing at Nuevo Laredo.

“We have several bridges, and all of them converge at the 26th kilometer,” said Luis Umberto Ramirez, chief Mexican consul in Laredo, Texas. After customs clearance at the border, this is a checkpoint for “review and control.”

The X-ray equipment can ferret out hidden compartments in truck floors, roofs or sides, and will be able to detect illegal goods or materials stowed on board, Ramirez said.

Allejandro Bago, an assistant of Ramirez, said the equipment is being tested at Nuevo Laredo, but the funding has not been available to implement a full-scale version of the X-ray program. He said it is unclear when the project will be fully operational.

Maria Reba, director of Customs for South Texas, said a U.S. company has been installing the equipment. She said Mexico is planning to use similar equipment at other border crossings and may have operational X-ray equipment at some seaports.

For the full story, see the August 30 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.