When Panamanian drug dealer Jeffeth Donaldson-Pinilla was arrested inside the Port of Charleston in 2003 hunting for a stash of cocaine, his weapon of choice was a set of bolt cutters. He had used the tool to slice a seal off a shipping container door concealing 4 1/2 pounds of cocaine valued at $50,000.

Five years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, port security has improved nationwide and in Charleston, but allegations that Panamanian drug rings are recruiting dockworkers here and in Hampton Roads, Va., have reignited the national debate over port safety.

If thousands of pounds of drugs can be shipped into the nation's waterfronts each year, are the Charleston port and others in the United States really safe from a radiological "dirty" bomb?

Have drug shipments taken a backseat to terrorism concerns?

Will the alleged complicity of longshoremen in drug trafficking require new levels of screening inside cargo boxes?

The current fear stems from a seemingly minute part of the global safety chain: security devices similar to the one Donaldson-Pinilla wanted to cut.

When containers are closed for their trip to the United States, a type of seal or bolt is affixed to the outside doors. Some are plastic; some are lightweight metal.

Port officials say the strength of the system is that the seals allow inspectors to immediately detect - if the device is broken - whether a cargo door has been tampered with en route to the United States.

The seal is not meant to be a physical deterrent, like a fence or secure lock, only a red-flag warning for inspectors.

Still, officials fear the Hampton Roads drug ring often was able to evade seal security.

According to federal court documents and published reports in Virginia, a drug ring was able to breach the seals, slip their drugs inside containers and re-secure the doors with a new seal.

The plot was detected, in part, when seal serial numbers on arriving containers didn't match ship records.

Seven people were indicted this week, including two Hampton Roads dockworkers. An unidentified longshoreman in Charleston also has been linked to the investigation, which was the largest drug probe in the Virginia port's history, with more than 275 pounds seized.

In the Donaldson-Pinilla case, which dates to August 2003, as many as 10 drug shipments came into Charleston before he was caught inside the Wando-Welch Terminal in Mount Pleasant by officials who'd been monitoring him for some time.

A member of the waterfront's mechanics union accused of smuggling him inside the gate also was arrested.

Authorities are encouraged by the recent arrests, but industry watchers say the tamperings show the seal system has flaws.

"I think the seals are an extremely weak link," said Barry Wilkins, vice president for homeland security for Pinkerton Consulting and Investigations Inc., in Arlington, Va.

Port officials say the role of seals has to be viewed as part of a multi-layered defense. Changes since 9/11 include government inspection agreements with about 50 foreign ports for the highest level of security available, although Panama isn't on that list.

Charleston's defenses also include inspections of all the manifests for ships that come here, screening of every container for radiation, and several layers of checks on potentially suspect crates.

But entering each container for inspection remains logistically impossible.

Changes may be coming. Devices that can be placed inside shipping containers that would detect an improper entry are being developed. The devices would be made sensitive to light, sound or motion, Wilkins said, and could electronically alert authorities to the time and location of any opening in a container.

The technology is "probably four or five years out, at the least," he said.

In light of the allegations against dock workers, a State Ports Authority spokesman said there are no plans to change admission procedures. Anyone entering the port needs credentials, and numerous layers of security already patrol the docks, while cameras watch from above. But the fear remains that smugglers will keep trying and cargo seals will remain among their targets.

Smugglers have shown "the ease at which they can be bypassed," Wilkins said.

Seal security

Cargo containers have tamper-evident seals affixed to their doors, allowing inspectors to simply glance at a container to detect if it has been opened.

Recently, however, some criminals have begun replacing broken seals with new seals. Although the new seals have incorrect serial numbers, the ability to readily detect tampering is negated.

Contact Schuyler Kropf at 937-5551, or skropf@postandcourier.com.