Undocumented trucker leads to security scare at Port of Miami

Undocumented trucker leads to security scare at Port of Miami The Port of Miami turned into a hornet's nest of federal and local law enforcement activity Sunday after a truck driver with a Middle Eastern background tried to enter the compound without proper credentials and two passengers hidden in the back of the cab.
   A thorough search of the truck, which was hauling a load of electronic auto parts, determined that it posed no threat, according to Lt. Nancy Goldberg, a spokeswoman for the Miami-Dade Police Dept., who briefed reporters at a nationally broadcast press conference.
   'At no time was the port closed. All cargo and cruise operations continued uninterrupted,' she said.
   The incident occurred about 8 a.m. when the truck driver, a 20-year-old American resident of Iraqi descent, failed to produce a Florida seaport identification card required at all state ports upon arrival at the main gate, Goldberg said.
   A security guard instructed the driver to obtain a one-day pass, which includes a background check, as required by Florida law. Concerns escalated when a police officer during a routine investigation noticed two other men in the cab after the driver had previously stated he was driving alone. One of the individuals was the driver's brother and the other didn't have any personal ID.
   At that point, local law enforcement officials called in federal authorities, including the FBI, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Coast Guard and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida.
   Goldberg said law enforcement authorities determined the discrepancy over the vehicle occupants was due to miscommunication, possibly due a language barrier, and that the driver was not trying to smuggle the other people into the port.
   The truck was taken to a secure area and subjected to a container-penetrating gamma ray exam, which determined the load of electrical parts to make automotive wiring harnesses, was consistent with the manifest, said CBP spokesman Jose Ramirez. Radiation tests by isotope-sensing devices turned out negative. The truck was subsequently transferred to CBP's cargo exam facility, where all 22 pallets were to be offloaded and separately X-rayed, he said.
   The three men are still under investigation and could be subject to administrative penalties for failing to carry proper seaport identification, Goldberg said. All three men are legally in the country and worked for an undisclosed company in Dearborn, Mich., she said. Dearborn has one of the largest Arab-American communities in the United States.
   Goldberg said the incident showed that security protocols at the port worked to resolve in a matter of hours, rather than what would have taken three or four days in years past.
   The container that was examined belonged to Seaboard Marine, which has extensive services from Miami to destinations in the Caribbean and Latin America.
   The incident highlights concerns over access control to secure areas of port facilities. Border security expert Stephen Flynn has warned in recent months that the greatest potential threat to U.S. ports is from domestic terrorists, possibly using a truck or small watercraft to deliver a bomb in a sensitive area of a port (see story in the January American Shipper, pages 38-39).
   Florida the past four years has required workers and other regular visitors to carry a standardized state identification to access secure areas in the state’s 13 major ports. Each port takes fingerprints, conducts criminal background checks and issues the ID badges to workers, truck drivers and others who conduct business on the waterfront — a process now being taken over by the state in order to have a common ID card.
   Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security last week issued final rules for implementing the first phase of a national program called the Transportation Worker Identification Credential. The long-delayed program for a national credential that can be used at any port facility will begin by requiring workers to undergo a criminal history background check, submit fingerprints and carry a federal photo ID card. Once biometric readers are approved and installed at ports the cards will be used to automatically gain entrance to the ports by verifying that the person's fingerprints match those on the card.
   Miami is a major container and cruise port. It handled 976,514 TEUs in the year ending Sept. 30, which represented a decline after having broken the 1 million TEU mark the previous three years.