The Department of Customs is planning to overhaul the organisational structure at the Tribhuvan International Airport Customs following the seizure of 33kg gold that had passed the TIA security two weeks ago.

The department is under the spotlight after the Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police nabbed a person with the gold that had passed through the TIA Customs undetected.

The department said it would train and shuffle its human resource at the TIA unit to tackle the systemic failure to control smuggling. Director General of the Customs Sishir Dhungana said they were mulling over introducing a system whereby staff deployed in vulnerable areas such as x-ray scanner, walk-through gates and baggage collection would be changed frequently.

“The same staff remaining long in such sensitive places helps them develop relations with smugglers. This could result in smuggling of sensitive materials,” said Dhungana.

In the absence of an adequate number of technical workers to handle x-ray examination of cargoes, the department has been employing same staff for years. According to officials, same staffers had been manning the x-ray department for more than 10 years before they were removed after the latest gold smuggling case.

Of the 40 workers idled after January 5, six—all from the X-Ray department, have been suspended. There were altogether 17 workers handling the x-ray scanner. Those removed without suspension have been allowed to mark their attendance at the DoC headquarters.

According to Narayan Prasad Sapkota, chief administrator at the TIA Customs, all the staffers would be trained on x-ray machine operation. “We plan to provide training to all the staffers within the next one-and-a-half months,” said Sapkota. After the training the existing workers at the department would be replaced.

Around 10 officials have been deployed at the walk-through gate and a dozen more at the baggage collection department. Officials from other departments have been stationed at the TIA after action was taken against the existing staff.

Workers from cargo and passenger departments will also be separated. Top officials said specific measures would be taken after the probe committee submits its report on the smuggling case. The committee headed by Deputy DG Suman Dahal has got 15 more days for investigation.