In a remark much repeated in ironical tones, the chief collector of customs said of "Howl": "You wouldn't want your children to come across it".
Gerard Schiebel, a deputy chief inspector of customs at Kennedy, said that no one on his staff was trained to distinguish a $5,000 Hermes bag from a $200 imitation, but that they watch for travelers on "high profile" flights like the Concorde or first class on Air France and Alitalia.
In an interview, the chief of Lebanese customs' drug and money-laundering unit, Lt. Col. Joseph N. Skaf, described a Sisyphean task: Passengers are allowed to bring in unlimited amounts of cash without declaring it.
"Each of these deposits is protected by a group of heavily armed people -- it could be 20 people but it could also be 100 or 150 people -- under the control of these criminal leaders, who sometimes are traders, sometimes local fighters, sometimes local authorities; for instance, the chief of the customs office in the area, the mayor of the village.
The new head of customs, Vladimir Bulavin, worked earlier as deputy chief of the F.S.B.
The slowdown there has cost the Afghan government tens of thousands of dollars in lost customs fees, said Elhamuddin Mazhar, the chief of the local customs office.
Mr. Ustinov's departure came only three weeks after Mr. Putin dismissed the chief of Russia's customs service and a dozen other officers in what was described as a newly energized fight against a deeply corrupt bureaucracy.
In 2008, Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, told Rep. Rogers, "Navy custom and tradition has been to honor the final resting place of those lost in downed ships and aircraft.
Among other senior officials reportedly accused in the case are another deputy mayor of Xiamen; the deputy chief of police for Fujian province; the chief of police in Fujian's provincial capital, Fuzhou; the Xiamen customs chief; two of Xiamen's deputy party secretaries, and three senior bank managers in Xiamen.
Hamilton Jordan, Jimmy Carter's young, brash chief of staff, was famous during the administration for negotiating tough deals, carousing at night and shunning the stuffy customs of official Washington.
