The sheer volume of packages arriving by sea, air and land makes patrolling frontiers a near-impossible task. Adding to this problem is the ever-growing list of falsified medicines and dangerous substances – including fentanyl, carfentanil and their analogs – being smuggled, challenging custom and border forces like never before.
However, innovations to counteract this rising threat are developing in parallel, arming officials with technologies that can rapidly identify narcotics and other chemicals without risking exposure to potentially hazardous contents. This article discusses the challenges of the illegal drug trade facing border protection and the solutions helping custom officials to stay one step ahead in this relentless struggle.
Customs and border protection agencies form the frontline of defense of a nation’s borders, balancing the policing of suspicious shipments with the continuous movement of commerce. Their role is vital in ensuring a constant flow of passengers, luggage and cargo, while stemming the overwhelming arrival of illegal shipments.
At passenger terminals, sensitive technology is a vital tool for customs officers, allowing them to quickly send innocent passengers on their way, but apprehend those trying to carry illicit substances. Similarly, at freight terminals, border guards must ensure that large shipments of goods can be moved rapidly along the supply chain, while detecting smuggled goods hidden among them.
According to the World Customs Organization Illicit Trade Report, 73,307 seizures were reported by 127 countries in 2021, totalling 2,938,716 pounds of drug substances.1 More than half of these cases were reported by the US alone and the most prominent drug category was psychotropic substances (28% of all seizures), followed by opioids and opiates (19.9%) and cannabis (18.4%). Fentanyl too is causing concern, with seizures increasing to approximately 11,000 pounds in 2021, compared to 440 pounds in 2016.2,3
The challenges of colorimetric analysis
Historically, wet chemical colorimetric assays have been the method of choice for border security personnel carrying out on-site identification of narcotics and other illicit drugs. Although extensively used, these tests are limited by the number of substances they can identify. Furthermore, their specificity is dependent on carrying out multiple tests and requires background knowledge of the suspected drug.
Dealers are taking advantage of this, targeting ways to ‘fool’ the tests by cutting illegal substances with legal ones, such as caffeine, or making drugs to a slightly different chemical composition to avoid detection. They are also not the safest option for frontline testing, as they require the use of caustic reagents and the unpacking and handling of unknown substances. This can be particularly hazardous to personnel, especially if fentanyl or its derivatives are present.
The power of spectroscopy
These limitations have prompted border control agencies to implement more accurate technologies in the field, such as Raman and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. These well-established techniques can identify unknown substances based on their underlying chemical structure and have been used in narcotics screening laboratories for many years.
With their high specificity, Raman and FTIR spectroscopy can identify most drugs or active pharmaceutical ingredients and even molecules that have the same chemical formula with a different molecular arrangement. This makes them especially valuable in the illicit drugs landscape where new analogs are constantly emerging and has led the Scientific Working Group for the Analysis of Seized Drugs to classify both types of spectroscopy as ‘category A’ analytical techniques, giving the highest level of selectivity through structural information.4
Used together, FTIR and Raman spectroscopy are even more powerful, providing a far broader range of unknown substance identification.
Raman spectroscopy
Raman is a vibrational spectroscopy technique where a single wavelength laser is focused on a sample. The laser excites the bonds of a molecule, generating measurable scattered light to identify the material in question. It is a highly effective method for reliable identification of an unknown substance based on its underlying chemistry. This technology is best used for:
FTIR
FTIR is an absorption spectroscopy technique which passes mid-infrared light through the sample. Some wavelengths may be absorbed, while others pass through the sample unaffected. Specific molecular bonds absorb a specific amount of energy and these losses of energy correspond to the peaks returned in an analysis. FTIR provides outstanding and easily interpretable results for many substances, but it is best used for:
Bringing new technology to the border
The evolution of spectroscopy devices means that these techniques are no longer restricted to benchtop machines in a laboratory and hand-held devices are now increasingly being employed at border control for presumptive testing of narcotics. Originally, technology like this used either Raman or FTIR spectroscopy, but now more complex devices are available that combine both technologies for more comprehensive analysis.
These portable devices can identify hundreds of controlled substances within seconds – including fentanyl and common analogs – with non-destructive, non-contact analysis. Furthermore, regular updates from global information sources ensure they are always scanning for the latest illicit narcotics and falsified medicines, meaning that as new threats emerge, they are far more likely to be identified.
The ‘point and shoot’ identification provided by these modern handheld devices is also crucially easy to use, requiring little specialist training. The speed of results makes them more efficient at busy borders, allowing quick testing to get passengers back on their way. As the technique requires no sample preparation, it is much safer for operators and allows them to scan more samples in less time. They can even identify samples through glass and plastic, adding an additional layer of safety between officers and hazardous substances.
Customs organizations worldwide face a huge challenge in detecting illegal drugs, while simultaneously smoothing the way for commerce and safe travel. The latest developments in hand-held spectroscopy devices help customs officials to meet this challenge, giving staff access to safe, easy-to-use technology that rapidly and accurately identifies illegal substances and falsified medicines at the borders.
This article was originally published in the January edition of Security Journal Americas. To read your FREE digital edition, click here.