ISLAMABAD, June 13: Borders surveillance equipment, which included five armed helicopters, three fixed wings planes, and night vision devices, worth US$73 million, will reach Pakistan in the next few days.

Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider in a radio interview on Thursday evening said that the induction of this equipment, which would include a number of patrolling vehicle in hilly terrains, would give a tremendous boost to law enforcement across the western borders.

The minister said that the three fixed-wings planes, to be received from the United States as part of ongoing cooperation against terrorism, would also be used to monitor the country’s coastal areas.

Mr Haider said that the equipment, which was supposed to arrive by June 14, would now be here sometime next week.

Beside effective monitoring of the western borders, he said, a comprehensive security project to keep computerized record of all those entering or leaving the country was also being implemented.

In the first phase of the project the computerized immigration system had been installed at Quaid-i-Azam International Airport, Karachi, on trail basis. The next phase would include Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta.

The issue of delay in the arrival of FBI experts was raised by the minister in his recent meeting with Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage who said he would look into the matter.

The minister said that the project was being completed with a US$5.2 million grant from the United States, and within a year all land, sea, air entry and exist points would be linked by centralized data base.

New machine-readable passport would also be issued to remove complications in the immigration procedure and keep a track of criminals.