With a view to tighten vigilance on suspicious international visitors, the Finance Ministry has directed Airport authorities to ensure passenger information remains readily available for law enforcement agencies. The ministry has asked the Customs department to install suitable computerised database of frequent and short visitors at all international airports.

The directive comes after the ministry noticed that advance information of passenger manifest (details like passenger and passport number) transmitted by airlines to the Customs is not properly collated and used for mapping and profiling of passengers at international airports.

"Board has taken a serious note of the aforementioned matter and emphasises the urgent need to put in place a mechanism to gather intelligence and undertake profiling of suspect international passengers," the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) said in a notification.

The Chief Commissioners in-charge of International airports have been requested to furnish action taken report on these issues by July 30. As per rules, the passenger manifest should be delivered electronically to the Customs three hours before the departure of the flight from the originating station by airlines.

The CBEC said the information on passengers is also not "systematically utilised" in cases where alerts have been issued by investigating agencies for monitoring and apprehending the targets.

It has expressed concerns on the lack of computerised database of offence cases registered against erring passengers at international airports. Information on passengers helps in matching available data for monitoring of alert issued by law enforcing agencies.

The CBEC said the lack of database has resulted in inadequate compliance of its instructions relating to identification of repeat offenders for deciding fitness for arrest and launch of prosecution.

Unavailability of ready and easy-to-use database on habitual offenders leaves scope to adjudicate the cases of non-bonafide baggage with nominal fine and penalty by Customs authorities, it said.

In this regard, CBEC said, it has instructed in the past that cases of import of goods in commercial quantities through passenger baggage should be adjudicated by imposing appropriate fine and penalty so as to curtail the practice.

CBEC also said that Commissioners at international airports across the country should emulate the practice of Chennai international airport where a customised software -- COPS -- is being used for maintaining and updating an offender database.