THE Australian Border Force (ABF) was in Portland over the weekend showcasing some of the latest technology at its disposal in its battle against international drug trafficking.

The technology in question, a submersible remote-control vehicle (known as a ROV), is used to search the hull of incoming ships to detect packages of illicit drugs, with those involved saying it’s “changing the game.”

ABF Superintendent Dan Peters was on board the boat which launched the ROV to search a number of cargo ships in Portland across the weekend, and he said the key areas of improvement have been in their efficiency with clearing ships.

“Where in the past it was a five-hour process to shut down a ship and get divers in and out of the water, we can get in and out in 20 minutes,” Superintendent Peters said.

“It’s a safety thing as well, this way we don’t need to send divers down to the sea chest (seawater intake area) unless we find a package down there.

“It has less of a commercial impact, if we’re on a ship for five hours that’s five hours where nothing else can be done, now we can do our thing without any disruptions to their work whatsoever.”

The top of the range version of the ROV costs about $160,000 according to Superintendent Peters, but he said the benefits more than outweigh the costs.

“Last year we were able to investigate 122 vessels, but we’ll be aiming for close to 200 this year… (on Friday) we were able to hit four vessels just in Portland,” he said.

“We tend to go to areas where there’s a high-risk vessel, but now we have the ability to search other vessels in the area at the same time.

“We also have smaller, cheaper models which can be as little as $5000, and while those aren’t useful when there’s low visibility, they’re great if we have to actually enter the ship to search for a package.”

Just in the past six months, ROVs have discovered two packages of cocaine concealed in the hull and sea chests of cargo ships, with the total amounts totalling about 350kg.

On average, the ABF detects and seizes around 2240kg of cocaine at the Australian border every year.

Superintendent Peters explained that the success of the program relies on the interconnected network of the ABF along with a variety of other law enforcement and intelligence agencies in Australia and beyond.

“At the same time, we still rely on the public to inform us if they believe there’s anything suspicious, so my urge would be to anyone who sees anything suspicious to contact their local law enforcement.”

Anyone with information can ring Border Watch on 1800 06 1800 or go to www.abf.gov.au/borderwatch.