Data-matching tool can point to suspects

A new border management tool will help Customs stem the flow of illegal imports into New Zealand. Photo / Sarah Ivey

One of the major aims of the Joint Border Management System is to use technology to give Government agencies a powerful data-matching tool for identifying travellers or importers likely to be involved in transporting illegal goods.

Tender documents for the JBMS project, provided to IT vendors this week, give an insight into how the Customs Service expects the system to help it weed out illegal imports using sophisticated analysis of Government databases.

The system will be able to check for relationships between people that have previously been too obscure to raise concerns.

The documents illustrate the system's power using the fictitious example of four people - Charles, David, Mary and Dr Ramanujan - who are each importing a consignment of books from Jamaica.

Charles and David both have criminal records for possession of marijuana, so the system alerts staff to check their packages in line with a standard rule: investigate all consignments from Jamaica being imported by people with a drug-related criminal record.

Mary does not have a record, so would previously have slipped under Customs' technology radar, but the JBMS' data analysis shows:

* She is in a romantic relationship with Bob, who has served several years in prison for importing methamphetamine.

* She is the sister of Richard, a known fence and occasional drug dealer.

* She lives with Ray, who has unsuccessfully tried to import ephedrine/pseudoephedrine in the past.

The three links are enough to prompt staff to check Mary's books.

According to the fictitious scenario, Mary's consignment of books is found to contain "various Jamaican drug-related paraphernalia". Charles' books are also intercepted, and found to contain 500g of high-quality hashish in a hidden compartment. David's books are found to be concealing nothing illicit, so are released to him.

Dr Ramanujan has no criminal record and the software revealed no suspicious relationships, so his books were not inspected.