GRIDS Regional Twinning/Training Programme for capacity and trust building, networking and actionable intelligence sharing for customs and postal security officers in West and Central Africa
Photo: Officers from West and Central Africa participated in the event.
20-22 September 2023, Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire - The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) Global Rapid Interdiction of Dangerous Substances (GRIDS) Programme organized a regional Twinning/Training Programme for customs and postal security officers from West and Central Africa. The event was hosted by the Ivorian Customs and participated in by national/regional intelligence liaison officers under the network of the World Customs Organization's Regional Intelligence Liaison Offices (WCO-RILOs) in West and Central Africa and a security manager of Cameroon Postal Service (CAMPOST). Customs national/regional intelligence liaison officers were from Cameroon, the Republic of Central Africa, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, and Togo. The Twinning/Training Programme aimed to strengthen information sharing and actionable intelligence development among customs and postal security officers in the region of West and Central Africa.
Photo: IONICS and Safe handling of dangerous substances: Theories and practical exercises
The three-day event provided capacity building training on development and sharing of actionable intelligence through the INCB's proprietary tools namely the Project ION Incident Communication System (IONICS) and the GRIDS Intelligence HD for investigative purposes, as well as awareness raising and safe handling training on effective response to the threat of new psychoactive substances (NPS) and non-medical synthetic opioids. Mr. Amari Bedi Olivier, the GRIDS Regional Technical Officer (RTO) for West and Central Africa delivered the training and awareness raising activities. During the event, the RILO West Africa, the Ivorian national WCO-RILO focal point, and the CAMPOST security manager also presented their current efforts to tackle NPS trafficking in respective countries and region. Field visits to strategical control points including facilities of the Ivorian Customs at the airport and Africa Global Logistics (AGL), a leading private logistic company in Africa, were also organized.
Photo: Visit to the Ivorian airport Customs and AGL facilities.
The Twinning/Training Programmes provided a good opportunity for the participants to update their knowledge about NPS and non-medical synthetic opioids, and enhance their interaction with the GRIDS Programme and other national/regional focal points. The participants had an opportunity to deepen their knowledge about different communication tools used by frontline officers. For example, the participants from customs were able to learn at first hand common features and differences between IONICS and the WCO Customs Enforcement Network (CEN), the communication platform for customs officers, through the comparative presentation by Mr. Esamba Jean Paul of the RILO Central Africa. Deepened understanding of the complementarity of the two platforms is expected to further activate sharing of experiences and improved monitoring of NPSD trafficking by customs officers in West and Central Africa.
In closing the event, Mr. Doublouehi Didier, WCO national focal point from Côte d'Ivoire on behalf of the Ivorian authorities expressed his appreciation to INCB for this initiative and assured that the knowledge obtained through the Programme should be replicated and practiced in respective countries. Mr. Birame Sidy KANE, Director of RILO West Africa, commended good organization of the event and expressed his appreciation to INCB for the learning opportunity provided. Mr. KANE also expressed his wish for more learning opportunities for customs focal points in Africa.
The Board's Global Rapid Interdiction of Dangerous Substances (GRIDS) Programme and Project ION and OPIOIDS Project support Governments' capacity to respond to changing trafficking, illicit manufacture, marketing and sales of NPS, non-medical synthetic opioids and fentanyl-related substances by providing real-time communication, facilitating information exchange and intelligence development that interdict distribution of dangerous substances.
The GRIDS Programme is supported by the Governments of Canada, Japan and the United States. This event was made possible through generous support from the Government of United States.
Click here to learn more about the GRIDS Programme
Click here to learn more about the OPIOIDS Project
Click here to learn more about the Project ION