Page 13 - Customs Today Winter1984-OCR

Canada with oil exploration equipment; traveling with tour groups. Tour groups passengers per week to over 3,500 per
another is performing a commercial im were once considered to have low-risk day. He says that there is no resemblance
portation. From nowhere, a line com passengers. between how things were back in 1935
posed of a British Airline crew, forms at During the morning peak of traffic and today. He seems determined to see
the primary lane. They wait for a few at Honolulu International, there is a how things will be tomorrow.
moments, looking impatient and unhap strong smell of fish sauce and dried fish. Hawaii has one of the largest foreign
py. Soon they are cleared. They appear There seems to be nothing as good as trade zones in the Nation. The Hawaiian
to be happy. food from home—travelers cannot visit Independent Refinery, Inc., processes
Anchorage is the crossroads for without bringing some home cooking 60,000 barrels of oil daily. Oil from In
many airlines coming into the United with them. According to Lawrence donesia, Malaysia and Alaska is refined
States from both the Orient and Europe. Barone, Chief Inspector at the airport, to make gasoline, jet and diesel fuel. The
It is where aircraft are refueled and re- there are 12-15 different languages district collects $1.5 million per year from
supplied. It is the airport of dignitaries spoken here. Agricultural examinations the refinery. There are two patrol/intelli
and royalty. The Pope has passed and problems tend to slow down the gence officers working out of the airport
through Customs here, as well as Presi processing of passengers. Barone says, assigned to the "Yakuza," Japanese
dents Carter and Ford. Queen Juliana of "They come through here with baggage, organized crime groups. "Yakuza"
The Netherlands, the Crown Prince of boxes and bales. There is a broad spec members, well-known for their tattoos
Japan and Margaret Thatcher, Prime trum of society coming into this airport— and missing fingers, are of interest to
Minister of England, along with numer peasants and the wealthy. We don't talk Federal and state law enforcement of
ous Congressional delegations, have pre down to anybody." ficials. Working with the FBI, DEA,
sented their declarations to Anchorage George Roberts, 75, is the Honolulu BAT&F and the Honolulu Police De
Customs officers. District Director. He started with partment, Customs has become one of
While there is a high percentage of Customs at Honolulu in 1935, following a the lead agencies in identifying
employee turnover because of the isola tour with the Army as a military "Yakuza" members.
tion and remoteness, there is, also, a high policeman. He smiles when he is asked if It is a Region of extremes. It is a
percentage of employees who are quite he began working at the airport. There Region of deceptive beauty.
happy and content with their lives in was no airport here in 1935. By the end of The Seattle District has some 400
Alaska. In addition to the majesty and the year though, Pan American brought employees and 17 ports. On the Cana
beauty of Alaska, the diversity of the in one flight a week, landing at Pearl Har dian border, 20 miles east of Blaine,
work, which entails moving from a vessel bor. He has seen the growth from 30 Washington, is the Dutch community of
to a private aircraft to clearing passen
gers, crew and cargo, seems to be a major
positive factor.
John Lupien, the former San Fran
cisco Regional Budget Officer, came
back to Alaska and a new career as an in
spector. Lupien, who could have retired I
or gone to Los Angeles, chose instead to
begin a new life, at age 50. He had been \ *9t-'"*f-,: f*JiK?
in Alaska from 1966 to 1974 as a budget i'i
officer with the National Weather Serv f i *B \
ice. He returned and is happy he did so.
He finds life in Alaska enjoyable and he ■ ** W.«-.'. <mi
Ill ^ymBBI^"
is pleased with the variety of his work
assignment. Where else can an inspector
clear a dog sled or a canoe?
It is a Region of extremes. It is a In the Region's laboratory in San Francisco, Chemist At Honolulu Seaport, Inspector Yenlyn Shadowens
Region of tropical ambiguity. Dr. Neal Byington is an expert when it comes to checks incoming cargo.
Honolulu, with its weather and petroleum products.
beaches and vegetation, seems an unlikely
district to have the largest duty-free shop
in the United States. Doing a gross vol
ume of $12 million a month, the duty-free
shop delivers over 100,000 bags of mer
chandise a month to departing passengers.
Honolulu International Airport,
with its 193 employees, has the distinc
tion of having some of the most high-risk
flights in the United States. Usually
seven flights arrive daily between 7 a.m.
and 9:15 a.m. with some 2,500 passen
gers. In the past 10 months, Customs of A costly logic analyzer seized under Operation Exodus
ficers have seized 49 pounds of high is examined by Los Angeles Inspector Douglas
quality heroin in 13 major seizures. Most An incoming fishing vessel is about to be inspected by Dlouhy. Two items seized for copyright and trade
of the heroin seized was from people Astoria, Ore., Port Director Newton Smith. mark violations are on the top.

CUSTOMS TODAY / WINTER 1984 11