DUBAI // Constant threats at borders have led countries to share more information, making it easier for Customs departments to stop dangerous items crossing their boundaries, intelligence authorities say.
"We are the first line of defence," said Abdullah Al Shaer, the director of the Customs intelligence department in Dubai. "You do not know where threats may come from but with solid platforms, updated procedures and trained staff you can minimise the threats."
Mr Al Shaer was speaking at the start of a two-day meeting of the Regional Intelligence Liaison Office - Middle East (Rilo-ME) in Dubai today.
"There are 15 million containers passing through Dubai's ports annually, therefore we use intelligence gathering, proper advanced technology and trained staff," he said.
Khalid Al Araj, director of the Rilo-ME office in Riyadh, said: "The region is witnessing a large increase in information exchange and this is due to the awareness that intelligence has become essential in customs work.
"The increase in international trade … as well as the fact that the Middle East region is fast-growing, has created a large flow of information that benefits the region."
Intelligence gathered from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen has helped to curb smuggling operations globally, the World Customs Organisation (WCO) says.
The cooperation has allowed the WCO to compile and update intelligence data in the Customs Enforcement Network (CEN) database.
"This a system that holds information shared by all WCO members and is rapidly updated," said Mr Al Araj.
Information about shipments, suspicious cargo and irregular transactions are traded between countries and regular updates are provided from other agencies to prevent illegal materials from crossing borders.
"The WCO did a campaign recently to gather information on chemical and hazardous materials that can be used for weapons and narcotics," Mr Al Araj said.
"The information was uploaded on to CEN and now provides information to customs authorities on what materials may be used illegally."
Dubai Customs officials seized 17 per cent more illegal shipments last year - 6,987 compared with 5,971 in 2010 - mainly as a result of greater sharing of information with other intelligence offices.
"The seizures included various smuggling operations of hazardous materials, drugs, counterfeit goods and money, forged documents and credit cards," said Ahmed Butti, the director general of Dubai Customs.
This year, he said, a 20 per cent increase in seizures was registered in the first quarter.
Mr Al Shaer said that in 2010, Dubai was the largest supplier of customs intelligence to countries around the world.
That same year, 14.6 tonnes of chemicals used to make cocaine and heroin were seized in the emirate. More than 70 plastic barrels of acetic anhydride and calcium carbonate emulsion were found in a container at Jebel Ali Port, arriving from an unidentified Asian country en route to a third nation.
The seizure was considered to be the largest prohibited chemicals bust by Dubai Customs.
Last month a package of forged official rubber stamps intercepted by Dubai Customs helped UK police to arrest a suspected drug dealer.
The stamps, bearing the insignia of the British High Commission in Dhaka, were uncovered customs inspectors at Dubai Cargo Village.
With them were other stamps purporting to be of the Bangladeshi High Commission in London and Cellmark, the British company that conducts DNA tests for UK visas.
amustafa@thenational.ae
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
