Port smuggling concern

CUTS in the number of customs officers at Newhaven are turning the port into a 'smuggler s cove for illicit tobacco, alcohol and drugs , MP Norman Baker has warned.

Figures disclosed to the town s MP as the result of a question in the House of Commons reveal customs officials at Newhaven have dropped dramatically from 124 in 1990 to just 15 in 2002.

Mr Baker said: 'It is a scandal that the number of customs officials in Newhaven has been so drastically cut in the last decade, especially when the numbers nationally have been rising. Newhaven is a busy port 15 officials is totally inadequate to cope with numbers coming through the port.

Traffic through Newhaven harbour is expected to more than double in the spring with a new ship joining the year-round Sardinia Vera freight and passenger ferry.

Operator Transmanche is believed to have spent 9 million on the 17,000 ton Saga Star which can carry up to 80 lorries and 250 passengers. There will be up to four daily crossings as well as Hoverspeed s seasonal Seacat fast ferry service.

Mr Baker also raised the potential threat to national security in light of American terrorist attacks. He said: 'The Government has said that in the aftermath of September 11 it wants to tighten security nationally. Yet here it is leaving a gaping hole on the South Coast. This presents an open door to drug smugglers, as well. I am also deeply concerned about local traders such as off-licences, newsagents and pubs being undermined by rampant alcohol and tobacco smuggling from the Continent.

Cannabis shipments

In 1999 two shipments of cannabis weighing more than 10 kilograms and with a street value of 35,000 were seized at Newhaven.

Mr Baker added: 'If the current reductions in customs staff carry on at this rate, Newhaven will have no officials safeguarding the port by 2004. The Government must increase the number of customs officials at Newhaven as a matter of extreme urgency.

A Customs and Excise spokesman said there were no plans to increase the number of officers in Newhaven and it was not recognised as a smuggling hotspot. However, he said a team of up to 20 officers in mobile units were on hand to tackle problems as they arose along the South Coast.

'As a general policy there is a move away from large numbers of staff at ferry ports, particularly where ferry traffic tends to go up only seasonally. We have a stationary team in Newhaven which is supplemented by our new Mobile Flexible Intensification Teams. Their remit is to go into a port on the South Coast to assist and back up local staff when it is needed.