After the September 11 attacks in the US, and the passage of the Patriot Act by the US Congress, balikbayan boxes have been subjected to rigorous inspections by the United States Department of Homeland Security's Out-Bound Exam Team that caused massive delays of up to three weeks at the US Customs inspection facility. This extended shipping time from 21 days to 30 plus days. The inspections also resulted in opened balikbayan boxes and complaints of package pilferage and mishandling. The Bureau of Customs also conducts 100% inspections that added to the burden of delayed shipments. The inspections are the result of some unscrupulous individuals who use balikbayan boxes to smuggle commercial items without paying taxes, or to smuggle contraband. Since balikbayan box shipping is a consolidated shipment, even one illegal item will affect all 400 or so packages inside the container. The inspection process has been modernized with the installation of high performance X-ray machines.