Mombasa, Kenya ? Wooden dhows sail into Mombasa’s centuries-old port every day, unloading everything from smuggled baby formula to illegal weapons — all under the eyes of police and customs officers bribed not to notice, Kenyan and U.S. officials told The Associated Press.

Nearly all the contraband comes from neighboring Somalia, a lawless country where al-Qaida operatives procured missiles and explosives that were smuggled by sea into Mombasa and used in twin attacks on Israeli targets a year ago today, according to a recent U.N. report.

In the year since, little has been done to staunch smuggling in eastern Africa, making it easy for terrorists to slip weapons through Kenya’s ports and largely unpatrolled coves that dot its Indian Ocean coast, said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A deeply rooted culture of smuggling is a problem throughout eastern Africa. Al-Qaida has twice struck Kenya and there are indications the Islamic terror network is plotting a third attack; Kenyan police uncovered a plot in June to destroy the new U.S. Embassy.

That makes smuggling along the predominantly Muslim coast of the East African country — where al-Qaida also is known to be recruiting — a serious concern in the war against terrorism.

There are senior Kenyan officials working to clean up the ports, but they are fighting a well-entrenched bureaucracy — a battle that could take years to win, said the U.S. official, speaking from Washington.

“We cannot say there is no longer corruption at the ports,” said Mombasa’s district commissioner, John Egesa. “We know there are weapons coming in, we find them each day in the hands of criminals.”

He insisted Kenya’s new government, elected last year on promises to stamp out corruption, is cracking down at the city’s old port and its modern container facility, though he refused to elaborate.

Wooden dhows sail into Mombasa's old port every day, unloading everything from smuggled baby formula to illegal weapons -- all under the eyes of police and customs officers bribed not to notice, Kenyan and U.S. officials say. This wooden dhow arrived Wednesday at Mombasa's old port.

But a police officer who works at the ports and spoke on the condition of anonymity said no action had been taken and smuggling flourishes.

According to the officer, a 10-year veteran, boat owners pay shipping agents in Mombasa to make sure goods are cleared through the port without paying taxes or import duties, which can run as high as 50 percent.

The shipping agents — the officer named a number of them — then pay off police and customs officers to look the other way.

Most of the smuggled goods are harmless — clothes, electronics and spices — and require only small bribes. But for illegal weapons — usually guns, but occasionally explosives — more money is paid to higher-ranking officials, the officer said.

Similar arrangements are in place at smaller ports to the north, like Malindi and Lamu, the officer said.

In August 2002, the officer, who is paid $80 a month, said he and other officers were bribed $13 each to let a dhow unload weapons at Mombasa’s old port. A senior police official arranged the payments, the officer said.