BORDER SECURITY REPORT VOLUME 21 For the world’s border protection, management and security industry SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 policy-makers and practitioners COVER STORY Money Laundering and the Illegal Wildlife Trade

Wildlife Trafficking Special Focus’

SPECIAL REPORT AGENCY NEWS SHORT REPORT INDUSTRY NEWS

FWildlife Trafficking in A global review of the UNODC resuming in-person Latest news, views and Trinidad And Tobago.p.12 latest news and challenges Maritime innovations from the from border agencies and capacity building with Kenya industry. p.57 agencies at the border. p.28 . p.15 2 COMMENT

contacts COVID-19, Technology Innovations and Privacy Trade Offs Editorial: Tony Kingham 2020 like 9/11 will be one of those Whilst we are in the middle of this crisis, E: [email protected] seminal moments, OK a whole year is a exceptional measures are being taken in long moment, but you get what I mean. the interest of saving lives, that is a given. Assistant Editor: Neil Walker It will be a year that changes everything But as we look to the future, policy E: [email protected] going forward, especially at our borders. makers, enforcement agencies and New technology will check our health at wider stakeholders nationally and Design, Marketing & Production: airports, ports and border crossings. internationally, will need to decide what Neil Walker privacy trade-offs are necessary and of E: [email protected] Biometrics on eGates will be standard, course publicly acceptable. new track and trace systems will be Subscriptions: ready and in place, and Advanced It may be, that many measures like Tony Kingham Passenger Information (API), will be an expanded API, will be seen as a E: [email protected] expanded to include more information necessary and permanent measure. about our movements when travelling After all travel to other countries is not Border Security Report is a bi-monthly abroad. a right, it is a privilege. So your host electronic magazine and is the border knowing who you are and where you management industry magazine Once again, borders will be the frontline will be for at least the first part of your delivering agency and industry news and for new systems, procedures and trip is a reasonable trade off. developments, as well as more in-depth technologies. Manufacturing industry features and analysis to over 20,000 has responded with incredible speed But, the collection and use of other border agencies, agencies at the borders and ingenuity to the new challenges private data will require a good deal of and industry professionals, policymakers thrown up by COVID-19, and you can considered thought and debate, and and practitioners, worldwide. be sure that industry has only just got that process needs to start now. going. Probably, the first opportunity for the But much of the new technology being border community to gather to discuss deployed, will inevitably encroach on these issues and others, will be at the much cherished personal freedoms, World Border Security Congress later this such as; greater use of biometrics, year in Athens. I hope to see you there! facial recognition linked to other databases, the gathering and sharing Copyright of KNM Media and Torch of more passenger information such as Tony Kingham Marketing. movements, before, during and after Editor travel, health information, and third- party contact information. As any cyber security expert will tell you, the moment you store personal information on any system, you have created a vulnerability, when you then share that information with another system or multiple systems and across borders, you have increase that vulnerability each time.

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 CONTENTS 3 CONTENTS BORDER SECURITY REPORT 6 COMBATTING THE ILLEGAL WILDLIFE TRADE

12 Wildlife Trafficking in Trinidad And Tobago

16 AGENCY REPORTS

22 Cannabis trafficking and endangered- tortoise trade drive corruption in »»p.6 Madagascar

28 AGENCY NEWS

32 South Africa’s Border Management Authority Dream Could be a Nightmare

36 Fighting drug trafficking in the Golden Triangle »»p.35 »»p.28 39 Kiosk systems – the key to ?

43 BORDER SECURITY: A QUARANTINED PANDEMIC

49 2020 World Border Security Congress

57 wEBINARS lIBRARY »»p.32 59 industry news

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 24th-26th November 2020 ATHENS, GREECE www.world-border-congress.com

Building Trust and Co-operation Co-Hosted by: through Discussion and Dialogue Confirmed speakers include: - Jim Nye, Assistant Chief Constable – Innovation, Contact & Demand & NPCC Maritime Lead, Devon & Cornwall REGISTER TODAY - Dr Olomu Babatunde Olukayode, Deputy Register for your Delegate Pass online Today Comptroller of , Nigeria Customs - Sanusi Tasiu Saulawa, Deputy Greece lies at the crossroads of East and West, Europe and the Middle East. It lies directly opposite Superintendent of Customs, Nigeria Libya so along with is the primary destination for migrants coming from that conflict zone and is Customs Service a short boat trip from Turkey, the other principal migrant route for Syrians fleeing there conflict there. - Heiko Werner, Head of Security Group, Federal Office for Migration and Greece has over sixteen thousand kilometres of coastline and six thousand islands, only two Refugees, Germany hundred and twenty-seven of which are inhabited. The islands alone have 7,500 km of coastline - Gerald Tatzgern, Head of Joint Operational Office, Public Security Austria and are spread mainly through the Aegean and the Ionian Seas, making maritime security incredibly - Peter Nilsson, Head of AIRPOL challenging. - Wayne Salzgaber, Director, The sheer scale of the migrant crisis in late 2015 early 2016 had a devasting impact on Greek Washington finances and its principle industry, tourism. All this in the aftermath of the financial crisis in 2009. - Tatiana Kotlyarenko, Adviser on Anti- Trafficking Issues, OSCE Despite this, both Greece and Italy, largely left to handle the crisis on their own, managed the crisis - James Garcia, Assistant Director, Cargo with commendable determination and humanity. & Biometrics – Global Targeting Advisory Division National Targeting Center – U.S. With their experience of being in the frontline of the migration crisis, Greece is the perfect place Customs and Border Protection re-convene for the next meeting of the World Border Security Congress. - Valdecy Urquiza, Assistant Director – Vulnerable Communities – INTERPOL The World Border Security Congress is a high level 3 day event that will discuss and debate General Secretariat current and future policies, implementation issues and challenges as well as new and developing - Hans Peter Wagner, National Expert, technologies that contribute towards safe and secure border and migration management. Senior Chief Inspector, - Mile Milenkoski, Senior adviser, The World Border Security Congress Committee invite you to join the international border security and Department for borders, passports and management community and Apply for your Delegate Pass at www.world-border-congress.com. overflights, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of North Macedonia We look forward to welcoming you to Athens, Greece on March 31st-2nd April 2020 for the next - Manoj Kumar, Second in Command, gathering of border and migration management professionals. Indian - Rear Admiral Mohammed Ashraful www.world-border-congress.com Haque, Director General, Force for the international border management and security industry

Supported by: Media Partners:

WBSC2020 Reg A4 Advert Dec19.indd 1 25/09/2020 11:26:25 SHORT REPORT 5

Illicit goods trafficking via port and airport facilities in Africa

Summary of an analytical report compiled by Interpol OCGs based on the African continent are very within the framework of the European Union (EU) likely connected to the international supply of funded Project ENACT (Enhancing Africa’s response illicit commodities through close collaboration to transnational ). with transnational OCGs that target the continent specifically to maximize illicit gains; With this analytical report, INTERPOL, under the European Union funded project ENACT, has sought A myriad of methods are used by OCGs to evade to assess how organized crime exploits ports and detection at airports in Africa; airports in Africa to traffic illicit goods as this crime Ports and airports across Africa are most probably phenomenon is still a significant challenge for law used as departure, transit and destination hubs for enforcement on the continent. Ports and airports the trafficking of illicit goods. across Africa continue to be targeted by organised crime groups (OCGs) to traffic illicit goods. Illicit goods trafficking is occurring at ports and airports within countries, within regions, between The traffic of illicit goods in Africa generates regions and between the continent and other parts of substantial profits, stemming from opportunities the world; created by socio-economic and geo-political vulnerabilities, fragile legal frameworks and OCGs are likely increasingly turning to informal corruption. OCGs taking advantages of port landing sites in Africa, instead of ports, to traffic and airport facilities in Africa are both local and certain illicit goods. This enables the OCG to international, often working together to maximise their circumvent law enforcement inspection and detection illicit profits and reduce law enforcement detection. of the illicit commodity they are smuggling; OCGs involved in trafficking at ports and airports on Commercial, cargo and private planes are probably the African continent are almost certainly connected the most frequently used aircraft to traffic illicit goods across borders. through airports in Africa. African airlines and not Trafficking of illicit goods at ports and airports in Africa foreign airlines are more often used by OCGs to affects all regions on the continent. There is limited smuggle goods; law enforcement capacity to counter this trafficking at Illicit financial flows are probably a major trafficking national, regional and continental level. Trafficking of element, obscuring or concealing the origin of illicit illicit goods at ports and airports in Africa is suspected proceeds through cash trafficking at airports, enabling of being consistently under-reported and going trafficking of illicit goods at ports through the Feiqian undetected, despite multiple data sources reporting scheme, and generating revenue for non-state armed on several types of illicit goods trafficking, involved groups through illicit taxation at ports and airports; OCGs and networks dynamics. Corruption is likely a major facilitator of the trafficking The following are the some of the key findings chain in Africa, involving airline and shipping crew regarding the smuggling of illicit goods via airports members, customs, police, and airport and port and ports in Africa: authorities and staff. Large international airports with limited or poor Download the full report at: https://www.interpol. screening procedures and with many connecting int/fr/content/download/15458/file/2020%2006%20 flights are at the highest risk to be exploited by OCGs 29%20FINAL%20PUBLIC%20AIRPORTS-ports%20 in Africa; threat%20assessment.pdf

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 6 SPECIAL REPORT

COMBATTING THE ILLEGAL WILDLIFE TRADE: Disrupting maritime trafficking of wildlife through African seaports

Worldwide, wildlife crime is a While the COVID-19 pandemic By UNDP ECOSYSTEMS & BIODIVERSITY serious threat to biodiversity, has caused widespread global economies, and communities. disruption, some central aspects of pandemic response - including Generating up to US$23bn lockdowns and travel restrictions - annually, this transnational crime is are also impacting wildlife poaching the 4th most lucrative illegal trade and trafficking supply chains. after narcotics, human trafficking, and counterfeiting. Alarmingly, some areas have reported an increase in wildlife COVID illuminates the potential risk poaching due to reduced law to human health and economies enforcement patrols and losses from poorly regulated or illegal trade of rural jobs during lockdowns. in wildlife.

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 SPECIAL REPORT 7

Elsewhere, some reduction in poaching has been observed, and is attributed to travel restrictions and supply chain disruptions. For wildlife traffickers, reductions in commercial passenger flights have disrupted air smuggling routes; these transient reductions must be bolstered by enhancing attention to air cargo and maritime shipments. Key to combatting the illicit wildlife trade: concerted efforts and multi- stakeholder collaboration targeting shifting strategies by wildlife traffickers who are exploiting new vulnerabilities due to COVID-19 disruptions.

DISRUPTING TRAFFICKING Mombasa is known as the main Targeting critical routes and transit NETWORKS gateway from East and Central points between Africa and Asia is a Africa to Asia. powerful means of interdicting. Due to the large volumes of goods involved, coupled with a relatively These ports are also key exit points The project is part of the GEF- minimal risk of detection and arrest, for the trafficking of African wildlife. financed, World Bank-led Global Wildlife Program (GWP), which seaports are key transit gateways However, it is estimated that brings together 29 countries across for illegal wildlife products. on average only about 20% of Africa, Asia and Latin America According to the Elephant Trade trafficked ivory from Africa is in coordinated efforts to combat Information System, up to 72% of actually caught and seized when wildlife poaching, trafficking and ivory is trafficked by sea. shipped through ports. demand. Targeting these maritime transit ENHANCING EFFORTS AT Each GWP country will support the points and strengthening law PORTS enforcement co-ordination and co- implementation of activities aligned In May 2018, UNDP and the operation with the private sector with national priorities and policies Global Environment Facility (GEF) can disrupt trafficking networks and to combat wildlife crime, including initiated the Reducing Maritime decrease profits and incentives for under their National Biodiversity Trafficking of Wildlife between Africa wildlife traffickers. Strategies and Action Plans and Asia project. Spanning 36 (NBSAPs) submitted to the UN TARGETING TRADE GATEWAYS months, this US$2 million initiative Convention on Biological Diversity Mombasa port in Kenya, and Dar is reducing maritime trafficking (CBD). es Salaam and Zanzibar ports in of wildlife between Africa and COLLABORATION IS CRITICAL Tanzania, are key points in Eastern Asia by strengthening wildlife law Africa for maritime trade with enforcement at ports and increasing In co-operation with the UN Office the rest of the world. The port of co-operation between ports and on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), other maritime stakeholders. the Royal Foundation of the Duke

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 AVIAN Heartbeat Detector™

Borders · Military Installations · Nuclear Facilities · Prisons · Checkpoints Other High Security Installations

In the early 1990s, the United States Department of Energy determined that our country’s nuclear stockpiles were capable of being infiltrated by terrorist groups hiding in delivery trucks entering the facilities. In response, the US DOE and Oak Ridge National Laboratory invented the AVIAN Heartbeat Detector™ to detect the presence of persons hidden in vehicles of all varieties by listening to the subtle movements a beating heart gives off inside of a vehicle. In field use for over twenty-four years, it has been tested and proven 100% effective by Oak Ridge, Sandia, and Thunder Mountain National Laboratories as well as the United States Military Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth.

The AVIAN Heartbeat Detector consists of an industrial computer loaded with specially developed software, a touch-screen monitor and special sensors. The operator uses the touch-screen to select vehicle type prior to beginning the vehicle scan. The processed data provide the operator with a PASS or SEARCH indication. The completed process takes as little as 15 seconds after the sensors are placed on the vehicle and the driver has exited the vehicle.

The AVIAN Heartbeat Detector is a cost effective method to accurately and quickly search large or small vehicles, regardless of contents, for hidden persons. The one- screen operation with icons makes training a simple matter that can be accomplished in less than one hour. The computer system requires little maintenance. British , US Homeland Security, Spain’s Guardia Civil and National Police, MOJ, EDF, Hellenic Police and numerous others, are currently using the Heartbeat Detector for their security purposes for 20 years.

The cost of the AVIAN Heartbeat Detector is approximately the cost of a single corrections officer or portal security guard. It is accurate and reliable and provides the officer with the capability to rapidly search fully loaded vehicles without moving or disturbing the vehicle contents.

Geovox Security Inc. PO Box 22043 Houston, TX USA 77227 713.521.9404 or 866.4.GEOVOX www.Geovox.com

Geovox A4 Ad.indd 1 04/03/2020 15:42:02 SPECIAL REPORT 9

and Duchess of Cambridge, the AVIAN Heartbeat World Bank, TRAFFIC, WWF, and other partners in the Global Wildlife Program, the project is increasing Detector™ awareness of port stakeholders about wildlife crime and building capacity of law enforcement agencies and the private sector to jointly prevent, detect, and intercept illegal wildlife products. Borders · Military Installations · Nuclear Facilities · Prisons · A key component is the Checkpoints Other High Security Installations engagement of private sector companies along the maritime In the early 1990s, the United States Department of Energy determined that our country’s nuclear stockpiles were transport supply chain. This builds capable of being infiltrated by terrorist groups hiding in delivery trucks entering the facilities. In response, the US off the success of the United It is only through collaboration in action against IWT, these key port DOE and Oak Ridge National Laboratory invented the AVIAN Heartbeat Detector™ to detect the presence of for Wildlife Transport Taskforce, sharing of intelligence, exchange of stakeholders have agreed on a persons hidden in vehicles of all varieties by listening to the subtle movements a beating heart gives off inside of a spearheaded by the Duke of operational techniques, sharing of collective way forward. Specific vehicle. In field use for over twenty-four years, it has been tested and proven 100% effective by Oak Ridge, Sandia, Cambridge. modus operandi used by poachers actions include strengthening risk and Thunder Mountain National Laboratories as well as the United States Military Disciplinary Barracks at Fort and traffickers, etc. that we can truly profiling systems, inter-agency, Leavenworth. The project is encouraging transport inter-sectoral, and international companies to join the currently build a united front against them,” collaboration, enforcement The AVIAN Heartbeat Detector consists of an industrial 100+ signatories of the Buckingham says Robert Mande, Assistant and prosecution capacity, and computer loaded with specially developed software, a Palace Declaration, and is providing Director of Anti-Poaching, Tanzania information and intelligence touch-screen monitor and special sensors. The operator them with technical support to Ministry of Natural Resources and exchange. uses the touch-screen to select vehicle type prior to assess supply chain security risks Tourism beginning the vehicle scan. The processed data provide and strengthen defences against To date, the project and its partners The project and its partners the operator with a PASS or SEARCH indication. The wildlife trafficking. have brought together over 130 are committed to support port completed process takes as little as 15 seconds after the representatives from 14 countries stakeholders in taking tangible sensors are placed on the vehicle and the driver has exited COLLECTIVE ACTION and over 50 organisations in Kenya steps towards these prioritised the vehicle. Building partnerships, the project and Tanzania to discuss concrete actions. is improving co-operation and actions to stem the flow of illegal Complementary to these efforts The AVIAN Heartbeat Detector is a cost effective method collaboration between key port to accurately and quickly search large or small vehicles, wildlife products through Mombasa targeting seaports, Kenya and stakeholders. Because collective regardless of contents, for hidden persons. The one- and Dar es Salaam ports. Tanzania are implementing action is imperative to combat screen operation with icons makes training a simple national projects under the GWP, wildlife trafficking though seaports, This includes government law matter that can be accomplished in less than one hour. The computer system requires little maintenance. British enforcement agencies and led by national governments and Immigration, US Homeland Security, Spain’s Guardia Civil and National Police, FRANCE MOJ, EDF, Hellenic these partnerships are critical. port authorities, private sector supported by UNDP. These projects Police and numerous others, are currently using the Heartbeat Detector for their security purposes for 20 years. “Wildlife trafficking is one such port and maritime supply chain will support the implementation of

crime that can only be effectively the National Wildlife Strategy 2030 The cost of the AVIAN Heartbeat Detector is approximately the cost of a single corrections officer or portal security companies and associations, as fought through inter-agency in Kenya, and the National Strategy guard. It is accurate and reliable and provides the officer with the capability to rapidly search fully loaded vehicles well as conservation and trade collaboration. Collaboration to Combat Poaching and Illegal without moving or disturbing the vehicle contents. facilitation non-governmental and becomes even more critical when intergovernmental organisations. Wildlife Trade in Tanzania. considering the existing network of Strong national government illegal wildlife dealers worldwide. Recognising the urgent need for leadership is imperative.

Geovox Security Inc. PO Box 22043 Houston, TX USA 77227 713.521.9404 or 866.4.GEOVOX www.Geovox.com Border Security Report | September/October 2020

Geovox A4 Ad.indd 1 04/03/2020 15:42:02 10 SPECIAL REPORT

need to take care of nature, so that nature can take care of us. Biological diversity – including healthy wildlife populations – underpins ecosystem functioning, supports local livelihoods and economic development, and is essential to achieving the Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Poaching and illegal trade in wildlife, with its diverse impacts across environment, economy, and society, puts at risk the achievement of multiple SDGs. We also now understand in a much more GLOBAL ACTION WORKING FOR NATURE personal way how it puts at risk the Recognising that IWT is a These are exceptional times achievement of multiple SDGs – transnational crime, the project in which nature is sending us including those related to health. is also supporting measures to a message: human health is The COVID-19 pandemic is enhance regional co-operation dependent on the health of the impacting global public health in Africa as well as between key planet. Zoonotic diseases like and the global economy in African and Asian ports. GWP COVID-19 are transmitted between unprecedented ways. As the world national projects in Indonesia and animals and people; research recovers, and tries to build back the Philippines are key partners shows that as we degrade the better, we must maximise pressure in this coordination through their natural world, these diseases are on the new vulnerabilities that efforts to strengthen capacities at more likely to spread. To prevent wildlife traffickers are facing and Asian seaports. and control future pandemics, we This coordination is particularly important as criminal IWT networks are quick to adapt to stronger detection and enforcement capacities by varying transport routes. Recent ivory and pangolin scales seizure data suggests that trafficking routes have broadened to include Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nigeria, among others. Transnational information exchange and co-operation are needed to stay a step ahead of the criminal IWT networks.

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 SPECIAL REPORT 11

UNDP ECOSYSTEMS & BIODIVERSITY Since 2000, UNDP’s global biodiversity program, with financing from the Global Environment Facility and other sources, has been successful in: helping to strengthen over 3,000 protected areas, covering more than 680 million hectares including marine, terrestrial and indigenous and community conserved areas; and undertaking interventions redouble our efforts to address wildlife products, with benefits for in production sectors and poaching and trafficking of wildlife other SDGs, including SDG 8 on development planning, covering – for the benefit of environment, decent work and economic growth more than 250 million hectares economy and society. and SDG 16 on peace, justice and of production landscapes and strong institutions. seascapes. This project acknowledges the current reality, and contributes to For more information on the Global advancing efforts on SDG 15 on life Wildlife Program, please visit http:// on land, and specifically target 15.7 www.worldbank.org/en/programs/ Take urgent action to end poaching global-wildlife-program and trafficking of protected species of flora and fauna and address both demand and supply of illegal

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 12 SPECIAL REPORT

Wildlife Trafficking in Trinidad And Tobago

By Jenny Constantine, Transnational The insatiable demand for the profitable illegal trade as a Organized Crime - Researcher, wildlife in Trinidad and Tobago means of survival. Trinidad and Trinidad and Tobago Police Academy has encouraged a thriving trade Tobago, the southernmost islands between the twin island republic in the Caribbean archipelago, lie and its neighbour Venezuela. approximately seven miles east off For years, the illegal trade the nearest coast of Venezuela. On has existed between the two a go fast boat the trip between the countries, mainly for the market two countries is approximately 10 in Trinidad, but with the crippling minutes on the north west coast. economic crisis in Venezuela Recently a peek into the extent more of its citizens are lured into of the trade was uncovered with

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 SPECIAL REPORT 13

the arrests of several smugglers, rescues of animals both on land and at sea and discoveries of non-local species of animals in the country. Several media reports show that most of the wildlife discovered are found in the southern part of the island mostly in the possession of Venezuelan nationals in company with locals. The animals are smuggled over in pirogues from the South American country to Trinidad into the anxious hands of customers. The animals are obtained for sale as pets and for smuggled animals. As early as June large quantity of birds, otters and local consumption as expensive, 2020 law enforcement officials have other wild animals. On seeing the exotic dishes. Animals frequently intercepted a number of Venezuelan local authorities, the smugglers trafficked into Trinidad are Parrots, nationals at times in company threw the animals and birds into the Macaws, Monkeys, Iguanas, Otters, with Trinidad and Tobago citizens sea whilst still in their cages. Most Sloths, Tapirs, and once as far either in pirogues on the sea or on of birds drowned though a few were as records show, even a pair of land with the contraband items. saved. The perpetrators were all Jaguars! Law enforcement officers In August, international headlines arrested and charged. both on land and at sea have lately were made when smugglers were Many traffickers are not caught, been kept busy with the discoveries caught by Coast Guard officers on and the trade flourishes. A cursory and investigations into the the sea attempting to smuggle in a glance on social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp show advertisements from numerous persons selling sometimes protected birds and other animals at cheap prices. One such in demand item is the bullfinch bird locally referred to as a ‘Chikichong’. It is a prized possession in competitive bird singing competitions. Locally birds cost thousands but those trafficked from Venezuela cost around $TTD 300 (USD$45) per bird by the dozen on the black market. However, if the bird has started to sing, prices start at $TTD 500 plus (USD$75+) per bird by the dozen. Domestic animals are also

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 14 SPECIAL REPORT

then Trinidad and Tobago’s law enforcement officers need to work assiduously to protect its borders in order to counteract the trade in illegal wildlife.

*Animal photos are from bystanders at seizures

brought over such as cows, goats, trade in wildlife is an easy source and sheep for local consumption at of income and may be the only butcher shops. The latter caught the means of survival to the troubled attention of government and then citizens of Venezuela. It is a fact Minister of Agriculture Mr Clarence that it is not viewed as a real crime Rambharat lamented that the by those who participate. Until that unscrupulous trade was encouraged perception is addressed in both by the local demand for cheaper the source and market countries goods which places citizens at risk because the animals are usually diseased and malnourished. Interviews with law enforcement personnel also highlighted the concern that the same routes taken by wildlife traffickers are the same used for human smuggling as well as for the trafficking of guns, drugs, and humans. Research has shown that law enforcement officers have expressed concerns about the involvement of organized criminal groups in the trade and the subsequent money laundering from the huge profits made. The illegal

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 SHORT REPORT 15

UNODC resuming in-person Maritime Law Enforcement capacity building with Kenya Coast Guard

responsible for law enforcement in the territorial waters of Kenya. It is an agency that incorporates personnel from different agencies, being the Navy, Customs, Kenya Fisheries and Kenya Wildlife Service, and will protect Kenyan waters from illegal and unregulated fishing, border disputes, piracy, human and drug trafficking, illicit trade, smuggling contraband goods, and degradation of the marine ecosystems.

On 31 August 2020, UNODC GMCP launched its first-ever VBSS course held in Mombasa. The course included a week of classroom training, which involved practical exercises and sessions on applications of the UN Convention on Law of the During the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Nations Sea for MLE personnel. The second week consisted on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Global Maritime of practical training and boarding exercises. Crime Programme (GMCP) has been continuing capacity building through virtual means, such as In addition to the VBSScourses, Mr. Ochoa will also hosting an online Prosecutor’s Network forum, review current maintenance management practices, a Maritime roundtable event and has offer support to leadership in organising and recently launched a monthly online session on planning to maximize effectiveness in training and legal matters pertaining to the Law of the Sea. As operations, and provide specialised mentoring on circumstances permit, UNODC GMCP is resuming navigation, safety and seamanship skills. in-person capacity building activities in the Western Supporting KCGS will strengthen Kenyan borders Indian Ocean region. and mitigate risks of transnational organized crime, The UNODC GMCP had the honour to invite the which will contribute significantly to managing Kenya Coast Guard Service (KCGS) to nominate migration, improving internal security and preserving 24 Maritime Law Enforcement (MLE) personnel the health of the ocean ecosystems of Kenyan to participate in Visit, Board, Search and Seizure waters. (VBSS) courses to be held in Seychelles. However, UNODC GMCP is excited about the continuing prior to execution, it became necessary to postpone collaboration with KCGS and looks forward to the training events due to restrictions put in place to developing further initiatives in Mombasa, such as mitigate the spread of COVID-19. the new VBSS Simulator facility to execute Pierside Kenya Coast Guard Service is a newly established Vessel training currently under construction at agency, still in its initial stages of formation, and Bandari Maritime Academy.

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 16 REPORT

JIT Leads to Dismantling of Albanian-Speaking Cocaine Trafficking Network professional criminal syndicate. As a result of this joint action, 20 individuals were arrested across Europe. The suspects have been placed in pre-trial detention for international narcotic substances trafficking, illegal possession and distribution of drugs and brutal assaults, including murder. These arrests follow those of 84 other members of this criminal group early on in the investigation in Italy, Ecuador, the Netherlands, the , Switzerland and Germany. This international sweep follows a complex 5-year long An unprecedented international operation involving investigation led by the Italian State Police (Polizia di judicial and law enforcement authorities in 10 countries Stato) under the direction of the Public Prosecutor’s Office has resulted in the complete takedown of the Albanian- of Florence (Procura della Repubblica di Firenze). It is speaking ‘KOMPANIA BELLO’ criminal group, one of the most considered the biggest of its kind ever against Albanian- active cocaine-trafficking networks in Europe. speaking organised crime and is the result of a Joint Investigation Team with the participation of Italy and The In the early hours of 15 September, hundreds of police Netherlands, in which the parties have worked closely officers, including special intervention teams and in close together for five years. Close to 4 tonnes of cocaine and over cooperation with prosecutors and investigative officers, €5.5 million in cash have been seized over the course of this with the support of Europol and Eurojust, carried out investigation. . coordinated raids against the members of this highly Rare Books Recovered in Romania in €2m London Warehouse Heist Investigation dei ) and Romania (Romanian National Police - Poliția Română) with the support of Europol and Eurojust. The individuals suspected with the theft are currently in pre-trial detention in the United Kingdom. In 2017, following the €2 million heist in the UK executed by an organised crime group composed of Romanian nationals, a Joint Investigation Team was set up between the cooperating countries with the support of Europol and the judicial assistance of Eurojust. This joint investigation framework provided the involved law enforcement authorities with the analytical tools, the coordination of Following the execution of a European investigation order, information exchange and the judicial expertise to carry a house search led by the Romanian police in the county out several criminal investigation activities. As a result, 15 of Neamt uncovered the rare books buried underground. suspects linked to the criminal organisation were arrested in Reported stolen from a warehouse in Feltham (UK) in 2017, the UK and Romania in June 2019. the priceless historical antiques included first editions of Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton from the sixteenth and seventeenth century. This discovery is the result of an international law enforcement cooperation between the United Kingdom (Metropolitan Police Service), Italy (Italian Carabinieri - Arma

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 INTERPOL REPORT 17

Online crime in Africa a bigger threat than ever before, INTERPOL report warns

A new INTERPOL report on online organized crime in Africa digitalized. shows how digitalization is transforming almost every major Social media is used to facilitate migrant smuggling, crime area across the continent. as evidenced by the INTERPOL-supported Operation Africa continues to rank lowest in rates of Internet Sarraounia, which saw the rescue of 232 victims of human connectivity in the world. In 2019, only 28% of Africans trafficking in Niger, 46 of whom were minors. The operation were reportedly using the Internet, compared to 83% revealed that 180 male victims had been recruited online in Europe, according to figures from the International with messages that promised “decent work”. Telecommunications Union cited in the INTERPOL report. As in other world regions, organized crime groups in Africa However, relatively low rates of online connectivity have not also use the Internet to facilitate the sexual exploitation and stopped organized crime groups from taking advantage of abuse of children, leveraging digital tools to contact and the Internet. solicit victims as well as sell child sexual abuse materials. Malware incidents are increasingly prevalent in Africa. In one The African continent is also a growing global transit hub for East African country alone, the cost of cyber fraud more than the trafficking of drugs and a range of illicit commodities, doubled between 2017 and 2018, reaching nearly USD 6.5 m. with narcotics, pharmaceuticals, stolen motor vehicles and other goods sold and bought online on the surface, deep Even the criminal activities that have longed formed the and dark web. ‘bread and butter’ of organized crime groups are being

Nigeria arrests two suspects linked to massive mask fraud

In March 2020, as a number of countries were going into lockdown due to COVID-19, health authorities were desperate to purchase protective equipment for medical staff. They contracted a procurement company to find EUR 15 million worth of face masks. Despite being experienced buyers, company representatives were hooked by fraudsters and led down a path of referrals, fake emails and websites, extra fees and ultimately, no masks. In a case coordinated by INTERPOL, financial crime and Authorities in Nigeria have arrested two suspects who are intelligence units and banks across Germany, Ireland, believed to be behind a huge fraud scheme which nearly saw Netherlands and the United Kingdom raced against the clock German health authorities pay EUR 2.4 million for masks they to intercept a number of wire transfers and recover the down never received. payments made to guarantee an initial shipment of masks. INTERPOL Chief outlines ongoing assistance to East Africa police

Despite constraints imposed by COVID-19, INTERPOL Secretary in the arrest of five individuals, one of whom was a member of a General Jürgen Stock reaffirmed the Organization’s support to the crime syndicate wanted in Europe. Secretary General Stock said Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organization (EAPCCO) in the operation demonstrated that despite the pandemic and two addresses to their Annual General Meeting. the resulting travel restrictions, criminal mobility across borders continues. Recognizing the achievements of the EAPCCO region under the Chairmanship of Simon Sirro, the INTERPOL Chief highlighted several successes throughout the year, including Operation Simba II involving the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. During the eight-day operation in March, nearly three million checks were carried out against INTERPOL’s databases resulting

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 18 OSCE REPORT

International co-operation vital for addressing terrorism during the pan- demic, OSCE PA counter-terrorism Chair says Parliamentarians play a crucial role in promoting Chairmanship. international co-operation and championing a whole-of- Not only has COVID-19 greatly affected our everyday lives, society approach in countering and preventing terrorism Lopatka said in his address, it has shifted attention from including during the pandemic, Austrian parliamentarian threats such as violent extremism and terrorism. Reinhold Lopatka said at the 2020 OSCE-wide Counter- Terrorism Conference in Vienna today. “The pandemic seems to have provided a fertile ground for terrorist groups to boost their online propaganda, Lopatka, who serves as Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary call for new attacks, increase recruitment operations, Assembly’s Ad Hoc Committee on Countering Terrorism, stigmatize minorities, and above all, disseminate false and addressed the event following a meeting on the margins discriminatory information,” Lopatka said.” with Amb. Igli Hasani, representing the Albanian OSCE

EU Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL) uses OSCE online module to raise awareness about Intelligence-Led Policing among officers from Central and Eastern Europe Around 30 law enforcement officials from Bulgaria, Participants will be introduced to the main principles Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, of the OSCE Guidebook on ILP, which is available in ten Slovakia, and Slovenia will participate in an online module languages (Albanian, Arabic, Bosnian, Croatian, English, on Intelligence-Led Policing (ILP) organized by the OSCE Macedonian, Serbian, Russian, Spanish and French) and is with the support of the European Union Agency for Law actively used by law enforcement agencies and authorities Enforcement Training (CEPOL). as well as other international organizations both within and outside the OSCE area. The purpose of this eLearning activity, found on CEPOL’s Learning Management System, LEEd, is to raise awareness Over the course of the training, law enforcement experts about this modern and proactive policing model and from OSCE participating States and Partners for Co- present its practical implementation in several key operation such as Israel, Austria, Sweden, the United areas to country police officers and law enforcement Kingdom and Estonia will present best practices in the representatives from Central and Eastern Europe. field of ILP. OSCE official praises Finland’s reforms to counter human trafficking and encourages further efforts on victim identification and prosecution The OSCE Special Representative for Combating preventing human trafficking in various countries and to Trafficking in Human Beings, Valiant Richey, wrapped up discuss how to best work together against it. The Finnish a series of two-day online consultations with high-level government is very dedicated to working against human officials of Finland today. He concluded that the Finnish trafficking.” Government is demonstrating strong political initiative to combat trafficking but needs to increase its efforts to counter impunity and identify victims, particularly children and those exploited online. Thanking Special Representative Valiant Richey for the meeting, Minister of Justice Anna-Maja Henriksson said: “It was extremely valuable to hear the OSCE’s views on

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 IOM REPORT 19

IOM Inaugurates New Headquarters for National in Niger, Completing USD 3 Million Effort challenges are significant. The country is exposed to various security threats, such as violent extremist terrorism, cross-border crime, trafficking and smuggling, some spilling over from neighboring countries. With that in mind, the new National Police headquarters for the Directorate for Territorial Surveillance (DST) is being inaugurated, built under the supervision of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Niger. Tuesday’s ceremony marks the end of the three-year project A landlocked country in the Sahel region, the Republic of Niger is “Haske DST” (Haske meaning “light” in Hausa), funded by the positioned at the crossroad of West, Central and North Africa. This Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs strategic location has made the country an important corridor for (INL) of the US Government, with almost USD 3 million. both trade and migration. The DST – Niger’s immigration services responsible for border Due to its large territory, neighboring seven countries with over management – plays a key role in preventing transnational crime 5,600 km of land borders – and being part of the free movement while supporting smooth regular migration and trade across zone of the West African ECOWAS region – border management borders.

IOM Report: Ethiopia Records More Than 1.8 Million Internally Displaced in 2020 There are now more than 1.8 million internally displaced more than 1,200 IDP sites and over 1,200 villages where persons (IDPs) in Ethiopia, a new report on internal IDPs had reportedly returned. displacement released by the International Organization for The primary cause of displacement: conflict, which has Migration (IOM) has revealed. resulted in 1,233,557 IDPs across this country. The second The report, which was completed in September and highest cause: drought, which displaced 351,062 IDPs, endorsed by Ethiopian authorities, contains data collected followed by seasonal floods (displacing 104,696 IDPs) and between June and July 2020 through the assessment of flash floods (50,093).

Germany Provides EUR 2,000,000 to Support IOM’s COVID-19 Response in Bangladesh Cox’s Bazar to identify, screen, and refer ill travellers with a EUR 2 million contribution from the German Federal Foreign Office. The generous funding will enable IOM to establish three Isolation and Treatment Centres, repurpose 100 mid-term shelters for quarantine and isolation of mild cases, support the Cash-for-Work programme to build the resilience of affected families in the camps and settlements.

The IOM will expand the provision of essential health services to Rohingya refugees and vulnerable members of the host community, and further its support to the Government of Bangladesh’s efforts to build capacity at Points of Entry (PoE) in

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 20 SHORT REPORT

Situation of African Migrants in the Middle East The African Union Commission notes with dismay recent the COVID19 pandemic. This includes the enforcement of adverse media reports regarding the plight of African signed bilateral labour agreements between sending and migrant workers in different parts of the world especially receiving countries. the Middle East. Many countries have put in place mechanisms to respond While the root causes might be different in each country, to Covid-19 induced adverse conditions. Consequently, the challenges experienced by African labour migrants movement restrictions including detaining migrants have working in low skilled jobs are similar and the situation is been imposed. The overwhelming conditions associated further exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic in general. with Covid-19 have jeopardized the livelihood and rights of migrants in many ways. To mention a few: migrants In an effort to gain concrete insight on the atrocities are faced with challenges including the lack of access in experienced by African labour migrants, the African Union healthcare services, the requirement of 14 days mandatory Commission held an emergency meeting in coordination quarantine, frozen visa processes include exit visa, abrupt with some of the affected Member States with workers, termination of their jobs, outstanding salary payments, namely Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan. The meeting discussed and the closing of businesses which included remittances the ongoing efforts, the need to strengthen urgent rights- sending agencies. based humanitarian interventions leading to the safe repatriation of the migrants, and to address the plight of The African Union Commission calls for the promotion, migrants languishing in detention centres. respect and adherence to universal human rights in dealing with African labour migrants. Concerted efforts As a global phenomenon, the desperate situation of across all stakeholders of governments and international African low skilled migrant workers in Middle East and organizations to provide urgent humanitarian intervention Gulf countries demands for a global call for transformative to end these sufferings are indispensable to alleviate the actions aimed at promoting and protecting the rights of pain and agony projected at African brothers and sisters African migrants, especially during emergencies such as who are migrants in some jurisdictions in the Middle East.

Harnessing the power of technology to combat human trafficking A global competition to develop tools that use both progressed, significant barriers remain,” says Sebastián technology and data analysis to prevent as well as Arévalo Sánchez, co-founder and CEO of Pasos Libres. prosecute cases of human trafficking, is underway. “Challenges include lack of information and the complexity One hundred and sixty people from 13 countries are in extracting value from data and the problem of currently working against the clock on innovations that transforming knowledge about human trafficking into could identify trafficking patterns, locate hotspots and tangible, practical solutions,” he added. track criminal networks that exploit people of all ages and This year’s edition is the third of its kind to be organized via backgrounds. this partnership, which makes use of both IBM technology The online event, known as a “DataJam Pasos Libres” was and mentorship opportunities. started in 2018, and is co-organized by IBM and Pasos Libres The 34 competing teams —consisting of IT specialists, crime — a Colombian organization that aims to prevent human prevention experts and representatives from businesses trafficking through innovative technologies. and the financial sector— have eight days to create a “Although efforts to combat human trafficking have technical solution to tackle human trafficking.

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 SHORT REPORT 21

Dozens of Rohingya refugees perish at sea Promise ‘remains unfulfilled’ The Bali Process was initiated at the 2002 Regional Ministerial Conference on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime held in Bali, Indonesia. It aims to address practical issues related to smuggling, trafficking and related transnational crime. At the time of the ‘boat crisis’ in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, five years ago, which saw thousands of refugees and migrants – distressed at sea and denied life-saving care and support, Bali Process states The refugees, numbering about 330 had set off on the acknowledged the need for a reliable and collective journey in Cox’s Bazar, in southern Bangladesh, in response to the regional challenge. February. After months at sea in desperate conditions, “Having created a mechanism to convene governments some 300 landed on the northern coast of Aceh, from across the region for precisely this purpose, the Indonesia, early on Monday morning. More than 30 promise of that commitment remains unfulfilled,” said people are believed to have died at sea. Mr. Ratwatte, adding: “Their hazardous ordeal has been prolonged by the “A comprehensive and fair response necessarily collective unwillingness of states to act for more than six requires responsibility-sharing and concrete efforts months,” Indrika Ratwatte, UNHCR Director for Asia and across South East Asia, so that those who permit the Pacific, said in a statement. disembarkation and bring those in distress ashore do The UN agency noted that the Bali Process which not carry a disproportionate burden.” was created by countries in the region to prevent such A complex refugee crisis tragedies from happening, failed to save lives through rescue and disembarkation. It added the group of The complex Rohingya refugee crisis erupted in August refugees had repeatedly tried to disembark over the 2017, following attacks on remote police outposts in course of the journey, to no avail. northern Myanmar by armed groups alleged to belong to the community. These were followed by systematic “Refugees have reported that dozens passed away counter attacks against the minority, mainly Muslim, throughout the journey. UNHCR and others have Rohingya, which human rights groups, including senior repeatedly warned of dire consequences if refugees at UN officials, have said amounted to ethnic cleansing. sea are not permitted to land in a safe and expedient manner. Ultimately, inaction over the past six months In the weeks that followed, over 700,000 Rohingya – the has been fatal,” said Mr. Ratwatte majority of them children, women and the elderly – fled their homes for safety in Bangladesh, with little more UNHCR staff in Aceh are supporting local authorities than the clothes on their backs. to assess the needs of the refugees. The immediate priority is providing first aid and medical care as Prior to the mass exodus, well over 200,000 Rohingya required. All will be tested for COVID-19 in accordance refugees were sheltering in Bangladesh as a result of with standard health measures in Indonesia for all earlier displacements from Myanmar. arrivals. Among those rescued, two-thirds are women and children.

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 22 SPECIAL REPORT

Cannabis trafficking and endangered- tortoise trade drive corruption in Madagascar

The Global Initiative is a network of The mountainous Andriry region organized groups of traffickers who more than 500 experts on organised near the town of Betroka in control exports of the drug. crime drawn from law enforcement, south-eastern Madagascar is an academia, conservation, technology, Hery (not his real name), the inhospitable area: remote, difficult media, the private sector and leader of one of these groups and to access and with a reputation development agencies. It publishes a key cannabis supplier, described for danger due to long-standing research and analysis on emerging how his business works. He and banditry and armed cattle- criminal threats and works to develop his lieutenant reportedly control innovative strategies to counter rustling groups. It is also one of hundreds of young men in their organised crime globally. Madagascar’s two main cannabis- trafficking organization, a claim producing regions, and home to backed up by a police officer who

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 SPECIAL REPORT 23

cannabis. Hery said that some in his gang were once cattle rustlers, but were now concentrating on drugs and looking to invest in artisanal mining. According to Hery, his gang recently reached a pact with regional law enforcement, whereby they would surrender any arms from cattle-rustling operations in return for being able to trade cannabis with impunity. The way Hery operates, and those like him, relies on complicity and protection. He reports that grands patrons ‘big bosses’ in Antananarivo ensure their protection and cover their activities. In Betroka, he claims that his group and their 30 or so subgroups pay annual fees to regional civil servants to ensure their collaboration. Other interviewees, from former politicians to public prosecutors, businessmen spoke anonymously and is tasked who was arrested for acting as a and police, also corroborated that with a mission to arrest Hery and cannabis transporter, described corruption linked to the cannabis bring him to justice. This officer his own experience on this route. trade is widespread in the area. estimates that Hery has around 150 Working on behalf of a dealer based The world’s rarest reptiles people in his gang. in Ihosy, he travelled with a group into the mountain region to collect The south-west of Madagascar They control the cannabis a cannabis shipment. After paying is the home range of the radiated shipments to exchange points his cut to Hery’s gang in order to tortoise, one of the world’s rarest on the outskirts of Betroka, from move cannabis freely, his group reptile species. Along with the where transporters then take the were intercepted by police on their ploughshare tortoise – also native shipments by road to drug bosses way back to Betroka. As the oldest to Madagascar and even more based in the capital, Antananarivo, member of the group, Toky was not endangered, as only a few hundred and other towns, including Toliara, able to flee in time. specimens are known to remain in Antsirabe, Ihosy and Fianarantsoa. the wild – radiated tortoises have How Betroka became a major A businessman and nightclub owner in the past decade become highly cannabis production hub has links in Betroka explained how cannabis sought after by reptile collectors in to cattle rustling. One ex-politician, is brought from the mountain the international pet trade. also a former cattle rustler, reported regions by transporters on foot, and that many of the major players In the radiated tortoises’ home left in clandestine drop-off places have, in recent years, switched ranges, a large proportion of outside the city. Toky (not his real their focus from cattle rustling to people depend on rural subsistence name), an inmate in Betroka prison,

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 24 SPECIAL REPORT

livelihoods. For centuries, tortoises have been part of the local diet as an important source of protein. Herilala Randriamahazo, a conservationist with the Turtle Survival Alliance, working on tortoise protection, told us that poaching for bushmeat remains a primary danger to tortoise populations. Theft of young radiated tortoises for international sale has grown significantly in the past to be quite different: very different to turn a blind eye to the tortoise decade. In 2018, two seizures of commodities, originating in different trade, and trafficking intermediaries unprecedented scale – numbering regions of Madagascar, and reportedly have strong links to law over thousands of tortoises – were operating in very different social enforcement. made in the island’s south-west. and political contexts. One of the experts interviewed Police inspection points along the believes that the buyer of the seized However, in both cases, one of the main roads in Madagascar are tortoises will be waiting for this challenges inherent in governing widespread. Moving tortoises from order to be fulfilled, meaning that these markets is a lack of local- the south-west to Antananarivo may the pressure remains for thousands government legitimacy and a entail passing up to 20 checkpoints. of more tortoises to be taken from local acceptance of these trades. However, there are few reports the wild. Conservationists try to integrate of seizures at these checkpoints, anti-poaching edicts into local law implying that low-level corruption Tortoise traffickers – predominantly systems in a bid to encourage is common. The transport of Malagasy and Asian nationals community compliance with large shipments of cannabis uses resident in Antananarivo – use national-level efforts to counter the same trunk roads leading to intermediaries who approach the tortoise trade. In the cannabis Antananarivo as those used for communities to conscript locals trade, Hery and his gang argued tortoise trafficking. These flows may to poach live tortoises for a cash that producers and traffickers in be relying on the same modalities income. In this impoverished region, the region are simply trying to find of corruption to move illegal goods, in which tortoises have traditionally a source of income in a difficult and their establishment along been a food source to exploit, environment, and that they saw transport routes paves the way for and not an endangered species cannabis as a legitimate way of multiple types of trafficking. to protect, this proves a strong making a living. incentive. The intermediaries then Shipments of tortoise and drugs make payment on collection and Both trades rely on the complicity other than cannabis also pass arrange transport for the tortoises. of officials in source regions and through many of the same transport along trafficking routes. Just hubs and regional destinations. Different markets, similar dynamics like the multitude of officials on Tortoises are transported overland The markets for cannabis and Hery’s gang’s payroll, officials in to Antananarivo, and thence to radiated tortoises may initially seem the south-west are encouraged Asian destination markets by air

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 SPECIAL REPORT 25

from Ivato airport. Alternatively, and also services regional international law enforcement. some traffickers ship radiated consumption markets across However, both markets show similar tortoises from the south-west by southern Madagascar. Cannabis dynamics of local corruption and boat to Mahajanga for export to from Madagascar’s other major acceptance of the illegal market at the Comoros islands. Similarly, production area, the northern the community level. In the case international law-enforcement Analabe Ambanja, is also shipped of cannabis trafficking in Betroka, sources identified Mahajanga as a to Comoros via Nosy Be, an where our research has been major hub port for drug shipments island off the north-west coast of centred, the reported corruption is through Madagascar, and migrants Madagascar. Nosy Be is also an significant and endemic. In illicit are also smuggled from this port to important hub for heroin shipments markets, corruption in source the Comoros. from Madagascar to other Indian regions and along transport routes Ocean island states, after heroin undermines the rule of law and also Secondary routes include regional is brought into the country through acts as a gateway for other forms of flights from smaller airports to other ports (particularly Toamasina) organized crime to operate through Comoros, Mayotte or Reunion. and consolidated, cut and the same routes. More recently, there have been repackaged in Antananarivo. reports of radiated tortoises going directly from south-west Corruption: a gateway for organized This article appears in the Global Madagascar on ships to China, or crime Initiative Against Transnational by fishing boat to Mozambique. Neither the illegal tortoise trade nor Organised Crime’s monthly East Cannabis from Betroka is the cannabis market in Madagascar and Southern Africa Risk Bulletin. primarilyBorderSecRprt_Adv shipped copy.pdf to Antananarivo 1 1/27/2020 3:27:12 PM is a major priority for national or EchoGuard 3D Surveillance Radar

Force multipler

C

M Agent safety

Y

CM Enhanced

MY

CY situational CMY awareness K

Commercially priced, high performance 3D radar for fixed or portable surveillance of ground, air, & marine borders

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 https://echodyne.com/landing/borders 26 NEWS

Drugs Seized in Container with Route Canada Agents of the National It was known that the contaminated container came Police Intelligence from Nicaragua with transit through Panama and a final Directorate seized 87 destination of Canada. packages with alleged Four million three hundred and fifty thousand dollars is the cocaine, which were approximate market value of this seized drug, which causes hidden inside three so much damage worldwide, so intelligence actions against briefcases in a container transnational organized crime are carried out daily in all located inside a ports and airports in the country. Panamanian Pacific Port. Connecting 157 Boys and Girls for Virtual Classes at School POLFA uniforms, who also got free internet for a year for schoolchildren. In Santa Marta, Arauca, Barranquilla, Bogotá, Bucaramanga, Cartagena, Cúcuta, Ipiales, Medellín, Pereira, Riohacha, Valledupar and Turbo Antioquia, the event was held that involved young people who belong to the program “seedlings of legality” of the Tax and Customs Police and that due to their low economic resources they did not have these technological elements to continue with their studies.

The National Police, through the Fiscal and Customs The POLFA uniforms for 3 months, gave themselves Police (POLFA) in coordination with the DIAN, within the to the task of knocking on the doors and the hearts of framework of the activity called “Operation Happiness”, businessmen and unions in the country, in order to obtain delivered to boys and girls from strata 1 and 2 of 13 cities these technological resources for children from social strata in the country, 157 tablets with data plans, to alleviate your 1 and 2 as a donation, this, According to their needs, which connectivity needs with virtual classes in academic sessions. in terms of connectivity hindered their academic training Door to door, the technological elements were donated by and classes in the Semilleros de la Legidad program..

National Guard Secures 1,200 Turtle Eggs When carrying extinction and protected by NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010. out road patrols On the Pinotepa Nacional-Salina Cruz road section, national to inhibit criminal guards carried out security tours and had contact with a actions in the state man who was stopping a public service vehicle, who upon of Oaxaca, elements noticing his presence decided not to board the unit and run of the National unexpectedly through a gap that leads to the beach. Guard secured 1,200 sea turtle eggs, a At the site, they found a cardboard box that carried species in danger of sea turtle eggs in plastic bags and a search device was implemented for the person, without positive results.

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 ASEANAPOL NEWS 27

ASEANAPOL Virtual Dialogue on Tackling Illicit Drug Trafficking Issues During Covid-19 Pandemic Commissioner Jim Wee. In his introductory remarks, Police Major General Do Van Hoanh shared the trafficking activities situation worldwide in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and reiterated his desire as a Current Chairman of ASEANAPOL for an agreement by consensus from all AMCs on the matters that will discuss in this platform especially on the most practical method to fight against Illicit Drug Trafficking.

By thanking on the motivational remark by the Current Chairman of ASEANAPOL, the Executive Director of ASEANAPOL Secretariat then delivered his opening speech by emphasizing Secretariat office roles during pandemic situation While drug trafficking remains as one of the main threat by initiating a concept note focusing on the issues of tackling to the national security and with the aim of enhancing its against Illegal Drug Trafficking which will be further deliberated existing cooperation on tackling Transnational Organized amongst the respective Narcotic Crime Enforcement Crimes (TOC) together with its initiatives in areas of common Department/ Division of AMCs during the platform. interest in South East Asia region, an inaugural dialogue This two-hour dialogue session then continues with a concept between ASEANAPOL Secretariat and Narcotic Enforcement note presentation by the Director for Police Services of Department / Agencies of ASEANAPOL Member Countries ASEANAPOL Secretariat, Senior Superintendent Joni Getamala (AMCs) was held. and followed by the country overviews on tackling the trafficking The dialogue, which was hosted virtually by ASEANAPOL drug issues during pandemic of COVID-19 by the delegation Secretariat, commenced with an opening remark by the from Narcotic Crime Department / Agencies of each AMCs. Honourable Police Major General Do Van Hoanh, Director Significant issues were discussed and the session was indeed General of the Office of Investigation Police Agency, Ministry fruitful in that it harmonisers in order to streamline strategic of Public Security, Viet Nam cum the Current Chairman of coordination and flexible mechanism strategic plan towards ASEANAPOL and followed by the speech from the Executive optimizing global response to evolving threats. Director of ASEANAPOL Secretariat, Deputy Assistant

64 Poachers Nabbed So Far This Year Following Clamp Down on Wildlife Trafficking A total of 64 poachers were nabbed since the beginning answering a question Dr Azman Ismail (PH-Kuala Kedah) in of this year following efforts to clampdown on wildlife Dewan Rakyat. trafficking, says Energy and Natural Resources Minister Datuk Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah. Dr Azman wanted to know what was the government’s plan to ensure that the country would no longer be a transit centre “To further strengthen the Biodiversity Protection and or involved in wildlife trafficking after the Covid-19 pandemic. Patrolling Programme (BP3) for the protection of national forest treasures, a total of 100 veterans and 50 Orang Asli were Shamsul said that Ops Benteng, which was implemented to appointed as wildlife rangers on contract service this year. prevent undocumented migrants from entering the country during the movement control order (MCO), would also be “There have been some big successes this year involving used to monitor borders for illegal wildlife trade. 32 cases and 64 individuals, which resulted in seizures amounting to RM536,000. Besides this, he said that 30 Wildlife Department enforcement officers would also be stationed at 14 of the nation’s entry “A total of 443 snares were also destroyed,” he said when points to prevent illegal wildlife trade.

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 28 AGENCY NEWS

Agency News and Updates

BP Officers Seize Over utilizing a non-intrusive imaging system Shortly afterwards a second lorry, also $2.1 Million Worth examination, resulting in the discovery Slovenian registered, was stopped inC Hard Narcotics in One of 78.66 pounds of methamphetamine and found to contain items removed Enforcement Action and 19.57 pounds of black tar heroin from the first lorry to make room for the hidden within the vehicle. drugs. Both drivers were arrested and the investigation was referred to the The narcotics have an estimated street (NCA). value of $2,106,002.. In the second incident on the same day, officers stopped a British-registered coach which had also order Force stop £15 arrived on a ferry from Calais. They million of cocaine searched the vehicle, which was not hittingB streets carrying any passengers, and found U.S. Customs and Border Protection 240 kilos of cocaine with a potential (CBP), Office of Field Operations street value of around £11 million in (OFO) officers at the Juarez-Lincoln a space behind the steps onto the Bridge seized narcotics that totaled coach. A 53-year-old British man, who over $2.1 million in street value. was driving the vehicle, and a second man, also British, were arrested and Packages containing 78.66 pounds of the investigation referred to the NCA. methamphetamine and 19.57 pounds of heroin seized by CBP officers at Juarez-Lincoln Bridge. In the first incident officers stopped a rontex to launch The seizure occurred on Wednesday, Slovenian registered lorry which had maritime surveillance by September 16th, when a CBP officer arrived on a ferry from Calais carrying Faerostat pilot project assigned to the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge electronic equipment. They searched referred a 2012 Chevrolet Silverado the vehicle and found 96 kilos of the Frontex, the European Border and for secondary inspection. The vehicle drugs which had been hidden in a Coast Guard Agency, is planning to was driven by a 63-year-old male pallet and had a potential street value launch a pilot project for maritime U.S. citizen traveling from Mexico. of around £4.3 million. surveillance by aerostat later this year. CBP officers examined the vehicle Earlier tests carried out in Greece in

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 AGENCY NEWS 29

The inventory of the goods resulted CE removes illegal alien in the quantity of 520,000 cigarettes wanted for aggravated (26,000 packs of cigarettes), amounting Ihomicide in El Salvador to 318,500 lei, an amount that was collected by the police, according to the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, in order to continue the investigations. In this case, the border police officers carry out investigations cooperation with the Hellenic Coast under the aspect of committing the Guard proved that aerostats can crime of smuggling , in order to detect be successfully used to support EU and identify the persons involved, at Member States in maritime border the end of which the necessary legal surveillance for law enforcement measures will be taken. Officers with U.S. Immigration and purposes. Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations The aim of the pilot will be to assess the (ERO) in Houston, Texas, removed capacity and cost efficiency of aerostat 9 Migrants Arrested by an illegal alien Friday wanted for platforms for maritime surveillance, Hungarian Border Police aggravated homicide in El Salvador. as well as to modify and optimise the 1 equipment used based on the lessons Jose Francisco Quintanilla Granados, learnt from last year’s tests. The activity a 27-year-old illegal alien from El will also help define optimal platform Salvador, was flown from the George dimensions, payload and capacities for Bush Intercontinental Airport in maritime surveillance. Houston, Texas, to the Monseñor Óscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport in San Salvador, El Salvador, on a charter flight coordinated by ICE’s muggled cigarettes, Migrants tried to enter the country Air Operations Unit. Upon arrival, he confiscated at the illegally in Mórahalom. 19 border was turned over to officials from El borderS with the Republic of violators were arrested by police and Salvador’s Civilian National Police Moldova then escorted to a temporary security (PNC). border. ICE officers first encountered The patrols of the Szeged Border Quintanilla Granados on July 2 at Police Office and the Szeged Police the Harris County (Texas) Jail after Headquarters arrested the 19 border he was arrested on local charges. A violators on the outskirts of Mórahalom. subsequent records check revealed During their inspection, the men that he is wanted for aggravated declared themselves to be Syrian homicide in El Salvador. and Afghan citizens, but they could Romanian border policemen from the not provide credible evidence of their Ţuţora Border Police Sector discovered identity or the legality of their stay in 26,000 packs of contraband cigarettes, Hungary. eizure of More than worth over 318,500 lei. 53,000 Sachets of The police will escort them back ChewingS Tobacco Smuggled officers monitored the to the temporary security border in Five Bowser Lorries by ICA vehicle and went to the banks of the in accordance with the Hungarian Officers at Tuas Checkpoint Prut River, where in a ledge, they legislation in force. discovered 13 packages wrapped in Officers from the Immigration & black foil.

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 30 AGENCY NEWS

Border Police of the Department of crops near the state border line. the Interior was provided with mobile surveillance systems to improve land The total weight of cannabis found in border protection capabilities. two regions of the republic amounted to more than 7 tons 200 kg. The equipment transfer ceremony was held at the base of the Operational- In all cases, after the commission Technical Agency of the State Security examination, the hemp was destroyed Service of Georgia . The special (burned). equipment was personally inspected by the acting Chief of the Border Police, Checkpoints Authority (ICA) directed Colonel Nikoloz Sharadze and he got two arriving Malaysia-registered acquainted with its capabilities. uardia Civil Intercepts bowser lorries for further checks at sailboat with 200 kilos Tuas Checkpoint. Mobile surveillance systems will Gof hashish significantly improve the ability to During the course of checks, ICA control border areas, which in turn will officers uncovered black polythene help detect and prevent crime. packages, containing sachets of chewing tobacco, hidden in the engine compartments and drivers’ cabin bed bunks of the bowser lorries. ore than 7 tons of hemp found and destroyed Following this detection, ICA officers Mat the border also stepped up checks on other Two people of Spanish nationality have bowser lorries waiting in line for been arrested, the seizure of a sailboat clearance. Additional polythene 12 meters long and 200 kg of hashish packages containing chewing tobacco were uncovered in three more arriving As a result of investigations carried out Malaysia-registered bowser lorries. A by the Guardia Civil and the National total of 26 packages containing 53,249 Police, a boat was detected in the sachets of chewing tobacco were Mediterranean that could be being retrieved from the five bowser lorries. used in drug trafficking.

The import and sale of chewing tobacco When it was monitored by the is prohibited in Singapore. The seized Border guards of the State Border Mediterranean Surveillance Control chewing tobacco was handed over to Service of the Kyrgyz Republic detected Center, suspicious movements of the the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) hemp crops near the state border in vessel were observed off the coast and all five male Malaysian drivers Jalal-Abad and Batken regions. of Almería, for which support was were detained by HSA for further requested from the vessels of the investigations. At the outskirts of the village of Maritime Service of the Andarkhan, Leilek district, Batken and Customs Surveillance for their region, near the state border, the border inspection and control. guards of the Leilek border detachment he U.S. Embassy hands found hemp crops with a total area of ​​ Once transferred to the Port of Almería, over mobile surveillance 6.5 hectares. the boat carried 200 kilos of hashish Tsystems to the Georgian hidden inside a specially manufactured Border Police In the Ala-Buka and Suzak districts of cabin. the Jalal-Abad region, while on duty, With the financial support of the Defense the border patrols of the Ala-Buka Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), the border detachment also revealed hemp

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 AGENCY NEWS 31

ne to watch – US CBP NAV staff accepted the statement, but CBP officer completing the inspection Memphis Officers became aware of traces of movement for entry to the U.S. referred the driver, OIntercept 3 Unique Illegal in the air tanks of the brakes. The truck, and shipment to the dock. Drug Shipments suspicious tanks were moored and then opened and they were seen to have been remodeled at home. A total of 850 boxes of Chesterfield-branded, exican Army secures tax-free cigarettes were found from approximately 60 the hiding place. One of the drivers Mkilograms of cocaine confessed to owning a cigarette. The events occurred when military personnel established in a security post, located in the municipality of Exporters in the illegal drug exchange ne to watch – US Cruillas, Tamps., When carrying out continue to be more creative in their CBP Officers Bust an inspection with the support of a shipments, but U.S. Customs and OOpen Quartz Boulders “Gamma” ray team, two vehicles from Border Protection (CBP) officers in to Seize Cocaine and Tampico bound for Matamoros, located Memphis continue to catch them. Methamphetamine Cemented in the fuel tanks of the automobiles, Inside approximately 60 kilograms of a white In the last few weeks, officers have powder with characteristics typical of intercepted fentanyl in a picture frame, cocaine, distributed in 62 packages. methamphetamines in a turntable, and even more meth in the linings of The possible insured drug would have dresses. an estimated price in the national market of $15,990,000.00, thus preventing Officers discovered more than 21 this type of addictive substances from pounds of methamphetamines Aug. 28 reaching Mexican youth and affecting in a shipment of dresses originating in their integral development. Mexico. While inspecting the package, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers discovered anomalies that officers at the Tecate cargo crossing turned out to be a crystalline substance had to break open boulders on sewn within the lining of the dresses. Monday to find 229 packages of OC Port of Clark A test revealed that the substance was methamphetamine and cocaine hidden uncovers Php1.1-M methamphetamines. inside. worthB of Kush Marijuana concealed inside imported “Hard to believe, but this isn’t the first Coffee packs time CBP officers in California have ne to watch for – had to actually break open rocks or The Port of Clark remains consistent Cigarettes in the air other items to get at the narcotics that in its mandate to protect the country’s Otanks of the brakes drug trafficking organizations have borders against the entry of restricted hidden inside,” said Jose Haro, officer goods as it seized three (3) plastic During an inspection of a Serbian bus, in charge of the Tecate port of entry. packs of Kush Marijuana with an employees of the Hungarian National “Our officers are well-trained to notice estimated weight of 980 grams and Tax and Customs Office found 850 discrepancies to stop drug shipments value of Php 1.1-million concealed boxes of untaxed cigarettes in Röszke. like this from making their way into our inside imported coffee packs from communities.” California, USA. The finance guards checked a scheduled bus from Serbia to Austria A truck driver arrived at the Tecate The shipment arrived and was declared in Röszke. Drivers and passengers did border crossing with a shipment listed as “Coffee T-shirt Bookbag”, was profiled not declare goods subject to customs on the trucking manifest as multiple and referred for non-intrusive examination and tax. tons of beach pebbles and stones. The which revealed suspicious images.

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 32 SPECIAL REPORT

South Africa’s Border Management Authority Dream Could be a Nightmare

Until recently, managing South Africa’s The new Border Management that reduces corruption, prevents borders was the task of at least seven Authority (BMA) Act is meant to illicit trafficking and facilitates different government departments improve efficiencies by providing movement of people and goods is working at land, air and sea ports of a single authority to oversee all welcome. However the BMA alone entry. This proved taxing, particularly as movement in and out of South aspects of the border environment. won’t resolve these problems. It will Africa continues to rise. The law also requires coordination be costly to the country, and places with other government bodies and more responsibility on an already border communities. strained Department of Home Affairs. In principle, the idea of more streamlined border management Before the BMA was established,

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 SPECIAL REPORT 33

coordination between the various authority in 2013 and the bill was with postal services will retain their government departments wasn’t introduced to Parliament in May core functions in border areas. The always smooth sailing. In 2010, an 2016. state anticipates that establishing a functioning authority could take up Inter-Agency Clearing Forum was Concerns raised by SARS, SAPS to 15 years. It estimates the initial created for the Soccer World Cup. It and the SA National Defence Force phase to cost R3.8 billion a year comprised Home Affairs, the South led to several revisions. In its 2018 and R10.3 billion annually when African Police Service (SAPS), the submission on the bill, the Institute fully implemented – probably a vast South African Revenue Service for Security Studies raised concerns underestimate. (SARS), and the departments about the securitisation of borders, responsible for agriculture, health, the threat of corruption and abuses, Given Home Affairs’ abysmal public works and state security. The and Home Affairs’ capacity to lead management record, how will team improved coordination among the initiative. The bill was revised it oversee an increased staff the departments and ensured in October 2019, then adopted and complement? effective border management and signed into law in July 2020. law enforcement. With borders still closed for most Now most border management travel due to COVID-19, Home The culture of abuse and functions will be centralised under Affairs and its counterparts in the corruption in Home Affairs will Home Affairs. The law creates BMA inter-ministerial committee can probably extend to the new ‘border management areas’ in a get to work on protocol agreement. authority radius of 10 km from land and sea The committee comprises The BMA is an attempt to replicate borders, under the BMA’s control. the following departments: this forum and make it a permanent It includes the establishment of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries; fixture. The lengthy process of an armed border guard with law Defence and Military Veterans; enacting the BMA law wasn’t enforcement capabilities. Environmental Affairs; Finance; Health; Police; State Security; without controversy. One critic The authority has until 21 January Trade and Industry; and Transport. called the BMA Bill ‘one of the worst 2021 to conclude implementation pieces of legislation to ever hit the protocols with the army, police and On paper all seems in order, but House.’ Cabinet proposed the new revenue service, who together major implementation challenges

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 34 SPECIAL REPORT

lie ahead. Home Affairs is a The new law is also criticised as Development Community visas for large department with a mostly xenophobic and seeking, above all, economic migrants and offer visa administrative mandate. Its deep to restrict access to migrants and regularisation schemes for people management and legal problems violate their rights. The act requires already in the country remain have led judges to describe the BMA officers to respect fundamental stalled. running of the department as rights, including of vulnerable As the African Union (AU) works ‘incompetent’ and ‘deplorable.’ groups such as trafficking victims, towards progressive border refugees and asylum seekers. But There are numerous accounts agendas, free trade and free with Home Affairs’ poor track record of abuse and corruption by movement, South Africa’s move on managing xenophobia, concerns department officials and this culture to militarise its borders will serve about its added powers are valid. will probably extend to the new as a barrier. As current AU chair, authority. Armed border guards While the act purports to address South African President Cyril with expanded powers could lead other national security concerns, Ramaphosa should consider the to increased arrests and detention its anti-migrant overtones are clear. message the BMA Act sends to of migrants, asylum seekers and Throughout BMA debates, members the continent. The country should refugees. of Parliament and the Home Affairs be championing safe and legal Meanwhile, Home Affairs’ current minister disproportionately focused avenues for low-skilled migrants, annual employment budget is on irregular migration. Highly workers and traders. These robust R3.5 billion. The BMA is expected inaccurate cause-effect statements migration management tools are the to ask Treasury for R3 billion blamed rampant xenophobia in ones most likely to reduce irregular more, doubling the department’s South Africa on a lack of border movement. management. budget to bring 21 000 border By Ottilia Anna Maunganidze, Head employees under its charge. Given This follows a pattern of blaming of Special Projects and Aimée- Home Affairs’ already abysmal foreigners for South Africa’s Noël Mbiyozo, Senior Research management track record, how will problems. The BMA is the latest in Consultant, Migration, ISS Pretoria it effectively oversee this increased a series of regressive measures Source: ISS Today Photo: Bernard staff complement? that negatively affect African Chiguvare/GroundUp migrants. In January, amendments The Border Management to the Refugee Act increased the Authority is estimated to cost probability of asylum seekers and R10.3 billion annually when fully refugees being unlawfully detained implemented and deported. In May, the Portfolio Less than a month before Committee on Home Affairs heard Parliament passed the BMA Act, presentations on establishing one- the Auditor-General shared a report stop border posts and processing that found a notable regression in centres for refugees near the the department’s management of borders that will inevitably prejudice illegal migrants since the last audit asylum seekers. in 2007. The report said it would take 68 years to finalise the current Meanwhile progressive proposals asylum case backlog even with no made in Home Affairs’ 2017 White new cases. Paper to roll out Southern African

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 UPCOMING WEBINARS

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE UNITED NATIONS COUNTER-TERRORISM CENTRE (UNCCT)

Through the organization of a series of geographic-focused webinars the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT), in partnership with Border Security Report and the World Border Security Congress (WBSC), as well as with key Global Compact, regional and national experts, aims to virtually delve into region-specific contexts and explore threat landscapes, border security and management challenges, and discuss response measures and mechanisms related to countering terrorism and trans-national organized crime.

Border Security and Management (BSM) in the Context of Counter-Terrorism: Addressing Regional Threats, Challenges, & Response Measures

For more details and to register visit www.border-security-report.com 36 SPECIAL REPORT

Fighting drug trafficking in the Golden Triangle

Drug trafficking has long been a “ has made considerable are conducted on a regular basis to problem in the Golden Triangle, the progress in combating the opium counter trafficking. region where Thailand’s Chiang Rai trade over recent decades province meets Myanmar and Laos. However, as the opium trade and represents global good In this blog, Gita Sabharwal, UN has declined, the cross-border practices. UNODC has a long- Resident Coordinator in Thailand, movement of synthetic drugs, and term partnership with the Thai and Jeremy Douglas, who represents particularly methamphetamine, has the UN Office on Drugs and Crime government and other stakeholders grown substantially. (UNODC) in Southeast Asia and to combat drug trafficking in the the Pacific, explain how the United Golden Triangle and, from the Link between development and Nations and the Thai government are military base at Doi Chang Mub fighting the drugs trade working together to tackle the issue. overlooking Myanmar, joint patrols

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 SPECIAL REPORT 37

In our meetings on a recent trip to the province, we were impressed with local efforts to develop the region in a sustainable way. It really struck home how integrally linked development and improving people’s livelihoods are to fighting the drugs trade, and tackling the corrosive effects drug abuse and criminality have on individuals and communities. While there are considerable challenges, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, we were also inspired by the community resilience and commitment to improve the welfare year generated profits of at least In part, as a result of the low street of all. $71 billion, with methamphetamine price and affordability, Thailand accounting for $61 billion, four has seen a significant increase The border regions between times what it was six years ago. in use, particularly among youth. Thailand and its neighbours, Today, the production and trafficking Considering 80 per cent of the Thai along the Mekong River, have of methamphetamine is the prison population is incarcerated experienced a continuous financial backbone of transnational due to methamphetamine-related expansion of drug production, organized crime and the ethnic charges of one form or another, trafficking and use, particularly of armed groups that they partner with it is very evident that increased synthetic drugs, for the better part for control of autonomous territories trafficking and decreased prices of a decade. in Myanmar, fuelling conflict and of the drug have accelerated and In 2019, seizures of harmful insecurity in the country, and along exacerbated challenges to the methamphetamine in East and its borders including with Thailand. criminal justice system and related Southeast Asia reached 140 tons, human rights in the country. In addition, despite record amounts with the vast majority produced in of methamphetamine seizures, the Myanmar’s Shan State, just across Coordination and education supply has surged and the price of the border from Thailand. With the Border Liaison Offices supported the drug has recently dropped to rise of production in Myanmar, its by UNODC have been an important its lowest point in a decade. One borders with Thailand and Laos component in border management methamphetamine tablet, known as have become one of the most and control in the region, as well “yaba” in Thailand and the Mekong significant drug trafficking points in as a practical way to improve region, currently costs only about the world. cross-border cooperation between 50 baht ($1.60) in the northern area authorities. Coordination efforts Billions in illicit profits of Thailand, making the drug much between police, customs, army, more accessible to drug users or It is estimated that drug production navy and in potential users. and trafficking in the region last the region have gathered and

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 38 SPECIAL REPORT

exchanged intelligence to take on organized criminal groups. Employing new technologies including X-ray devices, from hand-held to lorry-sized machines, Thai authorities have new tools to be used against illicit trafficking, including of drugs and precursor chemicals – vital to countering the destructive trade. The number of border checkpoints has been increased in response to COVID-19, reducing the transit of drugs through the province.

However, criminal networks have Image © UNODC Gita Sabharwal, UN Resident Coordinator in Thailand (right), and very quickly adapted; traffickers UNODC’s Jeremy Douglas (centre) receive a briefing at the Customs house in Mae have changed their routes to Sai in the north of the country. circumvent Chiang Rai and go through other provinces or via Hill tribe villages have been By The UN Resident Coordinator encouraged, through civil society Laos and back into Thailand, with The UN Resident Coordinator, and social entrepreneurs, including marginal increased costs and sometimes called the RC, is the the Mae Fah Luang Foundation, inconvenience affecting the trade. highest-ranking representative of to move to alternative cash crops. the UN development system at the Innovating for a sustainable More innovative support of this kind country level. In this occasional future will help affected communities in series, UN News is inviting RCs Thailand, neighbouring countries Chiang Rai’s economy will probably to blog on issues important to the and beyond, to move away from the remain largely based on agriculture, United Nations and the country drugs trade, towards sustainable tourism and cross-border trade where they serve. for the foreseeable future. In the livelihoods. There is a stark need agriculture and tourism sectors, for more alternative livelihoods, innovative approaches are providing and crops, in agriculture-dependent examples for a sustainable future. communities, if they are to be a part The Mayor of Chiang Rai City, of sustainable development. for example, is promoting an We are fortunate to engage approach that supports sustainable with so many partners working and chemical-free agriculture, towards sustainable development connecting Chiang Rai’s farmers in Chiang Rai and look forward with schools, hospitals and export to providing more support as we markets. collectively build back better from the pandemic.”

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 SPONSORED FEATURE 39

Sponsored Feature

Kiosk systems – the key to border control?

It may have been an unprecedented from third countries will need to Over the last two decades, secunet year for travel, but as borders start register with from 2022 onwards as has emerged as an innovative market to re-open and flights resume, part of the European Parliament’s leader in Europe offering mature and future-proof solutions for electronic robust border control systems Smart Borders Initiative. When identity protection as well as for that are quick and easy to use entering the via reliable and efficient verification. e.g. remain essential. And while self- land, sea and air borders, Third ABC gates and self-service kiosk service technology has long been Country Nationals (TCN) will for secure and convenient biometric an essential part of the travel be required to register with four border control. experience, kiosk systems will now fingerprints and facial image. This play a pivotal role internationally biometric data will be stored in to securely and efficiently manage the EES along with the traveller’s new border control procedures. biographical and other information taken from their travel document. EES While the policy will strengthen the In Europe, deployment of kiosks EU’s borders, it will be complex and is being driven by the rollout of time consuming, presenting first- the common biometric Entry/Exit line border control officers with new System (EES), which all travellers

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 40 SPONSORED FEATURE

challenges related to how they can entry interview at the kiosk in the Kiosks are highly flexible because most efficiently use their time to traveller’s native language with the the waiting areas of self-service focus on the most suspicious and answers being directly translated systems and stationary desks can high-risk travellers. Additionally, for the official. With their integrated be kept separate from each other. if queues build up at the border security mechanisms, kiosks also Also, because of their integrated control point, it could affect transfer guarantee consistent data quality monitoring functions, they do not times, baggage collection and even for the border control process. need to be within view of the border flight schedules. They ensure that the facial images control desks and can be configured captured are of a consistent quality One answer is to deploy automated in the most suitable way for a given and meet the requirements of ISO and self-service kiosks. These location, such as next to each other 19794-5:2011 and that fingerprints have the advantage of optimising in a row, at an angle in the middle of comply with NFIQ 2.0. State- of-the- the passenger flow while also a room, back to back or in a circle. art liveness detection, monitoring compensating for the extra time System requirements functions and detection of spoofing needed due to the additional step of attacks for face and fingerprint To ensure the maximum benefits biometric acquisition at the border. scans complete the high-level are achieved from the use of kiosks, When a traveller is first registered, security line-up. the system must be designed their biometric data is checked specifically for border control Cost against an estimated 300 million applications and satisfy all EES records to ensure that they have Automated systems represent good requirements, as well as performing not already been registered under value for money. When considering quickly, securely, reliably and to a different identity, a process total cost of ownership, kiosks often a high standard. Compliance with known as ‘deduplication’. This can require lower levels of investment ISO 19794-5:2011 and NFIQ 2.0 is take between 20 and 30 seconds than traditional infrastructure and essential for facial image acquisition because of the volume of data that staffing models, are more flexible and fingerprint capture. has to be searched. Self-service and easily scalable, and are more Another important system element systems can compensate for the cost-effective in the long run. is the use of anti-circumvention long response time of the central Space security based on presentation EES system by allowing prior data attack detection (PAD) technology. registration and breakdown of the Border control points have long This will prevent spoofing attacks process times, as the time during been concerned with how they can by recognising forged and falsified which the passenger is moving to make most efficient use of space. identity documents, spoofed faces WorldBorderSecurity.net the border control desk can be used World Border Security Network (WorldBorderSecurity.net), a global network for agency officials at the borders. for the EES queries. Additionally, kiosks can also be used both for The purpose of the network is to encourage and facilitate inter-agency co-operation and communication. first-time registration and to help Members of the network will be able to: optimise processes for return travellers. • communicate securely • view past presentations • share information • keep up-to-date with the latest technology developments By enabling pre-enrolment of • share documents • share training opportunities biometric data and prior interviewing • share best practise • and more... of incoming travellers, kiosks massively reduce the workload of WorldBorderSecurity.net is open to all World Border Security Congress government agency delegates past and present. the border guards performing these Access is restricted to government and intergovernmental personnel; border, customs, immigration agency officials and controls. Language barriers can specialist law enforcement officers. be overcome by conducting the Non-delegate agency officials will also be welcome but by member invitation only.

Border Security Report | September/October 2020

WBSNet A5 Ad.indd 1 04/06/2019 11:16:37 SPONSORED FEATURE 41

or fake fingerprints, as well as other types of attack. The kiosk system should also feature additional surveillance cameras and smart security functions that detect inadmissible or suspicious situations, so that passengers can be monitored conveniently from a distance. Kiosks are a crucial element of Europe’s smart border control infrastructure. When deployed correctly they benefit not only the border control authorities, but also all other stakeholders, from airlines, airport and infrastructure operators to the travellers themselves.

WorldBorderSecurity.net World Border Security Network (WorldBorderSecurity.net), a global network for agency officials at the borders.

The purpose of the network is to encourage and facilitate inter-agency co-operation and communication. Members of the network will be able to:

• communicate securely • view past presentations • share information • keep up-to-date with the latest technology developments • share documents • share training opportunities • share best practise • and more...

WorldBorderSecurity.net is open to all World Border Security Congress government agency delegates past and present. Access is restricted to government and intergovernmental personnel; border, customs, immigration agency officials and specialist law enforcement officers. Non-delegate agency officials will also be welcome but by member invitation only.

Border Security Report | September/October 2020

WBSNet A5 Ad.indd 1 04/06/2019 11:16:37 42 SHORT REPORT

Delivering Augmented Identity at borders

Helping you protect your borders while easing the legitimate movement of travelers

Secure and Manage the Anticipate threats automated physical movement of and assess risks borders with travelers at all entry using smart data multi-biometric and exit points analytics technology

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 Join us on www.idemia.com © Copyright 2020. All rights reserved. IDEMIA | EN - 01/20 | Photo: Eric Vernazobres, IDEMIA Vernazobres, Eric | Photo: IDEMIA | EN - 01/20 reserved. All rights 2020. © Copyright

Ad_PSI_WBS_202001-216x303-FINAL.indd 1 28/01/2020 14:10 SPECIAL REPORT 43

BORDER SECURITY: A QUARANTINED PANDEMIC

Pandemic are epidemic occurring the global economy was on locked by Igwe Martin, Co-ordinator Waansa on a scale that crosses international down with a likely long decade of Nigeria Media and Advocacy Centre boundaries and affects a large minus in development efforts and number of people. Influenza, Ebola the negative indices still palpable. and Corona fall into this category. Billions of dollars which could have Corona virus a highly alleged been used to address development pathogenic viral infection caused by and improve infrastructure have severe acute respiratory syndrome been rechanneled to address with fatality rate of almost a million increasing health emergencies and millions quarantined all over the brought about by corona virus made world. The case in Africa was linked worse by the neglect of border to passengers who disembarked security. Cross border crimes in from the airport and land borders African sub region which started in of African territories with little or the form of smuggling of goods as a no health check from relevant means of livelihood has transformed authorities. It is a sad reality that into a criminal enterprise with

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 44 SPECIAL REPORT

sophisticated network involving illicit trafficking of persons, prostitution, proliferation of small arms and light weapons, recruitment of child , narcotic peddling, cattle rustling has exacerbated due to Border Insecurity. The direct negative impact of cross border criminality is worse than that of COVID 19 Pandemic but the pandemic has been given global attention more than border security. Regional discourse on African development has never prioritized border security hence remnants of Chad and Libya rebels who have lost their cause have criminalized African borders to the points of challenging the legitimacy, small arms light weapons, drugs of Covid 19 is the need to share sovereignty of surrounding and human trafficking, which are knowledge and information. Lack countries. The continental body drivers of terrorism and other forms of information sharing can cause language that gives the impression of border criminalities. Nigeria an avoidable human error turn that border security matters needs is presently improving in food into a global social and economic to be constantly in quarantine must sufficiency; agricultural product are catastrophy. The need to focus stop in the spirit of maximizing getting a boost as the partial border on technological opportunities the benefits of recently flagged off closure has reduced rice smuggling made available by new emerging of African continental free trade sparking up job opportunities in the technologies in fighting old, new area. Socio economic and political informal sector of the economy and and emerging forms of cross border issue capable of addressing guaranteeing of foreign exchange crime has become an emergency. issues of poverty, unemployment earnings. Countries with comparative and democratic governance has advantage must stand up to save become imperative. There are As at 31st August, 2020 this joint the borders. always verifiable links between the effort has recorded an estimated levels of poverty and incidents of monetary value of seizures worth Regional integration which is criminality. Eleven billion, thirty million sixty one of the key components of two thousand nine hundred and transformation agenda of African In the last one year, the office of the fifty two naira fifty kobo, one development bank should look Nigerian National Security Adviser thousand two hundred and forty into sensitization of legitimate has supervised a joint border three irregular immigrants arrested, businesses in sub Saharan African security network not comprising millions of litters of premium motor borders. High percentage of traders the imperatives of inter agency spirit (Pms) and eight hundred and at the borders are women who collaboration. At least it is no more thirteen parks of tramadol drugs. employ more than one person in business as usual as steps are confisticated. One of the lessons their activities and support the need being taken to stem the influx of

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 SPECIAL REPORT 45

REFERENCES 1. Border Crime and Human rights. (Glenn et al 2008) (MSTDC 19-2) 2. Blogs. Afdb.org. women in Informal Cross border trade in Sub Saharan Africa (Crisis in Northern Nigeria a presented by Prof. Danladi Atu, Secretary Plateau State Government, Nigeria. 3. Http enact Africa. Org (what drives illicit trade in Africa. 4. Nigeria Custom Service Archives of about six persons. Revenues and coordinated global research 5. Migration, Maritime Security and from this trade are sources of social and information sharing. If border Transnational Crime, (June 2017) safety and provides basic needs security with its immediacy of threat KIPTC 2017 Retreat which compliments the efforts of the capable of disrupting regional 6. Technologies to enhance fight regional government to curtail the global development is given the against crime and Terrorism menace of unemployment. Globally global resilience given to Ebola and 7. Unwomen. Org preventing pandemic can be prevented COVID 19. The world can be free of trafficking OSCE.ODIHR Un women through detection of early warning border pandemic. Time to put words (2019) Border Management and signals, building capacity to into action is how. Gender. contain the pandemic in advance

eu-LISA and EASO Sign a Three-Year Cooperation Plan Collaboration is a major factor in ensuring border and specific planned actions are the sharing of expertise asylum management as well as internal security for in the field of training for Member States and jointly Europe and its citizens. eu-LISA and EASO have had a developing recommendations, digital brochures, as well formal Working Arrangement in place to support one as practical guides on the operational use of asylum- another across all business areas they have in common related IT systems. since 2014. Within the framework of this agreement, the two European Union Agencies have signed a multiannual “Digital transformation has become an essential part Cooperation Plan, which sets out actions and activities of our lives. It influences every aspect of people’s daily that will enhance the cooperation and highlight the activities in Europe and globally. Today, we are more results of both parties from 2020 to 2022. connected than ever and exchange enormous amounts of information. At the same time, the challenges that Core business areas such as border, migration and asylum Europe faces in the area of asylum and migration are very management, which are of vital importance to both complex. Their very nature suggests that to develop a agencies, constitute the principal areas of cooperation. comprehensive and timely response, close cooperation, However, these are not the only topics covered in the pooling of expertise and information sharing are plan. Transversal or horizontal services such as Research required. In this respect, the Cooperation Plan between and Development, Business Continuity, Data Protection eu-LISA and EASO, signed today, will facilitate the efforts and Communication are all foreseen as domains in which of both agencies to increase their contribution to the the agencies can provide one another with advice on Member States and to the EU as a whole”, noted Krum best practices and support. Examples of some of the Garkov, Executive Director of eu-LISA.

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 46 SHORT REPORT

EUBAM Advisory Board encourages to continue the good progress achieved in border management The 34th Advisory Board Meeting of the European Union of smooth and transparent border management Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine took cooperation in the current challenging times: “Joint place in videoconference format. Representatives of the border crossing points reduce waiting times for Foreign Ministries, border, customs and law enforcement people and goods which is important also from an agencies of the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, epidemiological point of view. They are effective in the European Union Delegations to the Republic of fighting cross border crime and smuggling. The EU has Moldova and Ukraine, the International Organization finalised the reconstruction of two border crossing points for Migration, the Organisation for Security and Co- between Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova and operation in Europe and United Nations Development provided substantial investment. Now, we encourage the Programme participated in the meeting. Ukrainian side to also go ahead with agreed renovation works and provision of infrastructure in order to swiftly The Advisory Board appreciated the progress achieved launch joint border operations, to the benefit of people by the Mission and its Partner Services in the challenging and trade.” situation emerged due to COVID-19 outbreak and encouraged the parties to continue working with the Mr Gheorghe Leucă, State Secretary within the Ministry same dedication and high professionalism. EUBAM’s and of Foreign Affairs and of the its Partner Services’ sustained contribution to launching Republic of Moldova appreciated EUBAM’s valuable an inclusive dialogue between Chisinau and Tiraspol, as expertise and assistance offered to the national well as the support to the establishment of joint control authorities of both countries over the last ten months in along Moldova-Ukraine state border, together with achieving progress under all three pillars. „Despite the the efforts in preventing, detecting and investigating emerging difficulties due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the cross-border crimes were among the most important Mission continued to advance the work on supporting achievements highlighted by the Advisory Board. confidence building measures, implementing integrated border management and combating cross-border The European Union Ambassador to the Republic of crime. We remain convinced that EUBAM represents a Moldova, H.E. Peter Michalko welcomed and appreciated substantial tool for border management and risk analysis the commitment of the Moldovan and Ukrainian partners in line with the interests of the population of both to the EU Border Assistance Mission, including during countries, Moldova and Ukraine. Hence, we reconfirm the COVID-19 situation and the complications it brought our interest in working further with the Mission aimed at with it. “Over the next period, I hope and I trust that ensuring stability and security in the region.” collectively we can mark progress in further rolling out the joint border control concept along the Moldova- Mr. Serhii Saienko, Deputy Director General of the Ukraine border, so that citizens on both sides can travel Directorate for the European Union and the NATO easier from one side to the other. EUBAM’s contribution of Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated „We towards offering and implementing EU expertise and cannot overestimate the Mission’s contribution to the best practices in border management is testimony to infrastructure development of BCPs to be launched in the European Union’s lasting partnership with both the October this year and increasing the technical equipment Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, on the one hand, and a level of the Ukrainian-Moldovan borders. We highlight clear expression of its will to further assist in resolving the joint actions lead by EUBAM to counter illicit trafficking Transnistrian issue, on the other.” in arms /CBRN materials within the recently established Working Group and other violations during joint The European Union Ambassador to Ukraine, H.E. operations and investigations in the border areas.” Matti Maasikas emphasized the particular importance

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 SHORT REPORT 47

Government of Denmark equips the Ghana Immigration Service to Combat Document Fraud Government of Ghana in strengthening its institutional and operational capacities to manage irregular migration flows, with a specific focus on document fraud detection. It is a well-known fact that criminals often hide behind fake documents to hide their identity and avoid detection, which is why this project is both timely and pertinent.

Within the framework of the project, ICMPD has been working closely with the GIS Document Fraud expertise Centre (DFEC) to strengthen their capacity and that of frontline officers to detect document fraud. In addition The project “Strengthening Border and Migration to the equipment, the project has trained 100 GIS officers Management in Ghana” (SMMIG), funded by the Danish on document examination, with training of another Embassy in Accra and implemented by the International 300 officers foreseen in the coming months. The project Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), also supported the drafting of training materials and donated 30 computers, 2 multifunction printers, a 4x4 handbooks on document security for GIS frontline vehicle, a camera, 2 high-level document verification officers, to ensure continuous training and retraining of devices, 3 forensic magnifiers and 320 3-in-1 magnifiers GIS officers on document fraud detection.The donation (for examining travel and source documents at the will contribute to further strengthening the capacity of borders) to the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS). the GIS officers to achieve their mandate of combatting irregular migration and managing migration flows. The SMMIG project is designed to support the Operation Irini has declared the Full Operation Capability now is fully capable to undertake all the necessary actions to accomplish its mandate, including boarding suspect embargo breakers which show uncooperative or opposed behaviours. With this achievement, the Operation has now entered its crucial stage.

To date, in addition to the aforementioned inspection at sea and diversion, EUNAVFOR MED Irini has performed 12 visits on collaborative merchant vessels and monitored 10 ports and landing points, 25 airports and landing strips. Irini has acquired a deep knowledge of its Area of Interest, also thanks Hundreds of vessels and dozens of flights were investigated to satellite images provided by the EU Satellite Centre, which by Operation EUNAVFOR MED Irini in more than 4 months fulfilled up to 250 specific requests coming from Irini. of activity monitoring sea, air and land possible illicit flows. That permitted to board, inspect and divert a merchant vessel Now, Operation Irini has three naval vessels provided by Italy, for suspected violation of the arms embargo off the Libyan Germany and Greece, four aircraft in direct support, provided Coast and to send 14 special reports to UN Panel of Experts by Luxembourg, Poland, France and Greece and one drone concerning from both sides of the conflict in Libya. provided by Italy. In associated support to the Operation there are also aerial and naval assets offered by France and With the arrival of the Greek frigate HS Limnos, Irini reached Italy. These assets cooperate with Irini remaining under their its Full Operational Capability. This means that the Operation National control.

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 48 SHORT REPORT

ICMPD and Tajikistan formalise and deepen their relations

The Ministry of Labour, Migration and Employment of should be well managed. The current global pandemic Population of the Republic of Tajikistan informed ICMPD not only highlights the challenges we face in migration that the government gave its approval to the signing of a management, but also the opportunities” underlined Ms. Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with ICMPD. This Gulru Jabborzoda, the Labour Minister. “Therefore, the was the positive news that ICMPD received at an online establishment of the Migrant Resource Centre will be a meeting with a high-level delegation from Tajikistan, sustainable initiative that will focus on capacity-building headed by the Labour Minister Ms. Gurlu Jabborzoda. and strengthening existing Ministry structures; hence we look forward to future cooperation with ICMPD”. The MOU will become the cornerstone of a deeper, more targeted cooperation and pave the way for the A responsive, efficient and sustainable MRC is needed to establishment of a Migrant Resource Centre (MRC) in improve migration governance and mobility. The MRC’s Dushanbe, Tajikistan.The meeting also covered ICMPD’s additional goals will be to reduce the vulnerabilities and further expert support in the development of strategic challenges faced by migrants in living and working abroad documents on productive employment as well as capacity- by providing them with adequate, timely and reliable building activities of the Ministry of Labour of Tajikistan information and guidance on migration. in catering for the needs of Tajik migrants during these The Memorandum of Understanding is expected to challenging times created by the COVID-19 pandemic and be signed in the coming weeks. The Migrant Resource beyond. Centre is to be established under the framework of the “In light of steady annual population growth, migration “Improving Migration Management in the Silk Routes abroad is inevitable; however the migration processes Countries” project, funded by the European Union.

EU-funded Programme on Border Management in Central Asia holds the Final Conference of the 9th Phase

The 9th phase of the EU-funded Programme on Border agencies through the concept of Integrated Border Management in Central Asia (BOMCA) held its closing Management, as well as helping the countries of the event to summarise the achievements from over the region to approximate the border control practices five years of its implementation. The Regional Steering to international and European Union standards. The Group meeting and the Final Conference, held online, European Union allocated EUR 40.1 million to BOMCA so gathered over 100 high-level representatives of the far for the whole period spanning from 2003 – 2020; out BOMCA implementing Consortium, national border of this amount, EUR 6.6 million was assigned to its 9th management agencies in Central Asia, EU Delegations, implementation phase (2015 - 2020). international organisations, and EU MS Embassies. During H.E. Ambassador Peter Burian, EU Special Representative the final event, BOMCA presented and disseminated the for Central Asia, opened the conference. He appreciated the project’s results and tools for further strengthening border joint work with the governments of the region, stressing management, migration governance, and trade facilitation that partnering for resilience and partnering for prosperity measures in the Central Asian region. are closely linked with efficient and integrated border The first BOMCA operations in Central Asia began in 2003, management: “regional cooperation and integration offer and since then, BOMCA has been playing a positive role the best tools for addressing common challenges, and is in promoting cooperation among border management instrumental in ensuring security and stability”.

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 CONGRESS NEWS 49

Border managements annual gathering EVENT PREVIEW

The annual gathering of the have been rushed into service. international border management and protection community will take Changes in the traveller information place in the historic city of Athens, requirements have been put in place Greece on 24th-26th November unilaterally by individual countries and 2020. continue to evolve.

Since our last congress, in March What is certain is that the pandemic has 2019, the world has changed, and changed forever, international travel once again the border management and therefore border management. 24th-26th November 2020 community is in the front line of those Athens, Greece changes. Added impetus has now been attached www.world-border-congress.com to implementing and enhancing Unprecedented national lockdowns Advanced Passenger Information and border closures have happened (API) sharing. the world over and new technologies

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 50 CONGRESS NEWS

Co-hosted by: Co-hosted by the Ministry of Silver Sponsor: Immigration & Sylum and supported by the Organization for Security & Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the European Association of Airport and Seaport Police (EAASP), the African Union Economic, Social and Cultural Shuttle Bus Sponsor: Council (AU-ECOSOCC), National Security & Resilience Consortium, International Security Industry Organisation and International Association of CIP Professionals, All this against a backdrop of the World Border Security Congress Lanyard Sponsor: continued issues of mass migration, remains the premier multi-jurisdictional human trafficking, drug smuggling and global platform where the international terrorism. border management and protection policy makers and practitioners and There is much to be discussed, and community gathers to share views, Delegate Folder Sponsor: this year’s Word Border Congress thoughts and challenges. will be one of the first opportunities for the border community to gather As well as the 3 day main congress together to discuss the challenges agenda, the event will also have going forward. a series of Closed Agency Only Workshops and opportunities for The World Border Security Congress delegates to visit Athens International Welome Reception Sponsor: is a high level 3 day event that will Airport of Piraeus Seaport during discuss and debate current and the Site Visits being hosted. Great future policies, implementation opportunities to gain insights into issues and challenges as well as new how operational and technological and developing technologies that aspects combine for successful contribute towards safe and secure border security, migration and cargo Networking Recxeption Sponsor: border and migration management. management.

We need to continue the discussion, Register your interest to attend the collaboration and intelligence sharing. event at www.world-border-congress. com/registration. The World Border Security Congress is the premier multi-jurisdictional We look forward to welcoming you transnational platform where the to Athens, Greece on 24th-26th Water Bottle Sponsor: border protection, management November 2020. and security industry policy-makers and practitioners convene to discuss Further details can be viewed at the international challenges faced in www.world-border-congress.com. protecting borders.

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 CONGRESS NEWS 51

Closed Agency Workshops ARICAN UNION ECOSOCC FOR BORDER AGENCIES, AGENCIES AT THE WORKSHOP BORDER AND GOVERNEMTN OFFICIALS ONLY Migration - Creating Opportunities for Young The World Border Security Congress aims to promote People In Africa collaboration, inter-agency cooperation and information/ intelligence sharing amongst border agencies and Tuesday 24th vember 2020 : agencies at the border to better engage and tackle the 9.30am - 12:30pm increasing threats and cross border security challenges that pertain to today’s global environment. The Social Affairs and Health Cluster Committee in conjunction with Committee on Political Affairs of the Border agencies and agencies at the border can benefit AU-ECOSOCC, will be hosting a Workshop on the from the ‘Closed Agency Only Workshops’, hosted by the margins of the Congress to understudy the situation Ministry of Citizen Protection, Organization for Security and proffer necessary solutions that will address the & Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and International issues of Migration in Africa. Organization for Migration (IOM) with a series of behind closed door discussion and working group opportunities. Africa is continuously losing its young, vibrant human resources and future through irregular migration, This years Closed Agency Only Workshop topics are: leading through the path of death to Europe and other developed Nations. This has continued to lead to loss of Challenges of Inter-Agency And International thousands of lives, brain drain and depletion of Africa’s Information Sharing human resources. Chair: Senior Representative, Ministry of Citizen Protection Legacy information systems, lack of trust, lack of sharing The situation has become a global topical issue with mechanisms, lack of a designated international agency Africa at the receiving end. We believe that the time has all contribute to a lack of information sharing. Integrated come for us to look inwards. The Workshop therefore is Border Management (IBM) is based on the premise that expected to identify the root causes, share experience agencies and the international community need to work with local and international development partners and together to achieve common aims that benefit all parties. civil society organizations with a view to curbing irregular Information sharing becomes increasingly effective as migration of African youths and even families to Europe. border management agencies gather, collate and share more data, but how is this to be achieved. The Side Event with the theme “Migration - Creating Opportunities for Young People In Africa” will be Disrupting People Trafficking Routes highly interactive with Keynote presentations, Panel Chair: International Organization for Migration (IOM) discussions centered on a meaningful dialogue among Human trafficking is one of the largest criminal enterprises participants and stakeholders. in the world. It is a multi-billion dollar criminal business on a global scale. This is because human trafficking is a Delegates of the World Border Security Congress are high profit, low risk enterprise that is also a low priority for entitled to participate in the AU-ECOSOCC Workshop most law enforcement agencies, meaning apprehension “Migration - Creating Opportunities for Young People of perpetrators is low and sentences are often minimal In Africa”. compared that of major crimes. What can be done to disrupt trafficking routes and gangs? Register online at www.world-border-congress.com

Biometrics - next steps Chair: Organization for Security & Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Biometrics are here to stay and are an increasingly valuable tool in making borders secure. But what are the next steps and developments and implementation in biometric technology and how biometrics is lawfully used to help on the border, considering aspects such as GDPR and travel document security.

Register online at www.world-border-congress.com/ agency-reg

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 52 CONGRESS NEWS

Congress Programme Tuesday 24th November 1:30pm - 2:o0pm MINISTERIAL OPENING AND WELCOME 24th -26th November 2020 2:15pm - 3:30pm OPENING KEYNOTE ATHENS, GREECE Mr Notis Mitarachi, Minister of Migration & Asylum of Greece Chief of Greek National Police Chief of TBC 4:00pm - 5:30pm Plenary Session - The Latest Threats and Challenges at the Border With the final collapse of the so-called IS Caliphate, returning oreignf fighters are a particular challenge for the next few years, but mass migration, transiting terrorists, cross border organised crime, human trafficking, small arms, weapons of mass destruction and drug smuggling will continue to be areas of major concern for the global border community. Latest threats and challenges in the Central Asia Sharipov Zafar, Tajik Border Troops & Abdulloev Khairullo, Tajik Customs Service, Tajikistan Insider Threats at Ports Peter Nilsson, Head of Airpol Senior Representative, INTERPOL Washington Senior Representative, Greek National Police David Bannister, Chief Inspector - Counter Terrorism Border Operations Centre, Counter Terrorism Policing – National Operations Centre (CTP-NOC)* Carlos Dettleff Beros, General Director for Borders, The National Department of State Borders and Boundaries, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chile Wednesday 25th November 9:00am - 10:30am Plenary Session - Continuing efforts against foreign terrorist fighters, irregular migration and human trafficking How we deal with foreign terrorist fighters, irregular migration and human trafficking are inextricably linked. Because it is through clandestine trafficking networks that foreign fighters will attempt to return to their countries of origin or to other destinations. They may also attempt to return through conventional travel networks by the use of forged or lookalike documents. Or they may hide among genuine refugees as we have already seen. These experienced fighters pose a real threat to their communities. API and PNR are part of the answer but what else can we do to meet this challenge? The use of API/PNR data to fight trafficking in Human Beings and people smuggling Valdecy Urquiza, Assistant Director - Vulnerable Communities - INTERPOL General Secretariat Alvaro Rodriguez-Gaya, Head of Strategy, European Migrant Smuggling Centre, EUROPOL Strengthening National Referral Mechanisms to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings Tatiana- Kotlyarenko, Adviser on Anti-Trafficking Issues, OSCE Gerald Tatzgern, Head of Joint Operational Office, Public Security Austria The fight against illegal migrants and corruptions on border crossing points- Ph. D. Vladimir Pivovarov, National coordinator for integrated border management, Ministry of Interior, North Macedonia AIG Moses Ambakina Jitoboh mni, Assistant Inspector General of Police, Nigeria Achieving Effective Border Security in Africa through Youth Engagement -Jude Gabriel Imagwe MON, Chief Executive, Advance for World Unity

9.15am - 10.30am Technology Workshop See some of the latest border tech solutions demonstrated and dicussed during the Technology Workshop. The Future of Automated Border Control: Making an Informed Decision - Christopher Gilliland, Director, Innovative Travel Solutions, Vancouver Airport Authority The Need for Client-Owned Open Source Frameworks for Integration of Sensors - Sean Buckley, PMP, Program Director, Parsons TBC - Senior Representative, Smiths Detection Future Technologies for improving Border Security - Radu Pop, Head of Sales, Infrastructure and Frontier Security Solutions, Airbus Defence & Space & Michael Edwards, Director of Business Development & Technical Sales eGovernment, Veridos How Technology and Collaboration between nations enable focus on detecting Foreign Terrorist Fighters - Kier-co Gerritsen, Business Development Director, SITA Beyond the Passport: Truth, Lies or Threats? - Dr. Enrique Segura, president and CEO of Securiport

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 CONGRESS NEWS 53

11:15am - 12:30pm Workshops

Breakout Workshop - Capacity Building and Training in Border and Migration Management Enhancing capacity and migration management through by improved technical support and knowledge; administrative ability; promoting mechanisms for co-operation and the exchange of expertise between migration management personnel and the strengthening the monitoring and oversight. Nélson Goncalves, Immigration and Border Management Training Specialist, International Organization for Migration (IOM) Capacity Building and Design Thinking - Dr Katerina Poustourli, Scientific/Technical Officer, International University of Greece Global Border Security and Management (BSM) Programme - Margherita Natali, Associate Programme Officer, United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism, Counter Terrorism Centre, Border Security and Management Unit Olasunkanmi John Oba - Nigerian Representative, AU-ECOSOCC Closed Agency Workshop - Challenges of Inter-Agency And International Information Sharing Chair: Ministry of Citizen Protection, Greece Legacy information systems, lack of trust, lack of sharing mechanisms, lack of a designated international agency all contribute to a lack of information sharing. Integrated Border Management (IBM) is based on the premise that agencies and the international community need to work together to achieve common aims that benefit all parties. Information sharing becomes increasingly effective as border management agencies gather, collate and share more data, but how is this to be achieved.BSRBCC - A model for long term cross-border cooperation - Hans Peter Wagner, National Expert, Senior Chief Inspector, Federal Police Alvaro Rodriguez-Gaya, Head of Strategy, European Migrant Smuggling Centre, EUROPOL Delimitation and demarcation of state boundaries as a significant element of improving border security and cooperation between neighbors with a focus on the Balkans, the current situation and challenges - Mile Milenkoski, Senior adviser, Department for borders, passports and overflights, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of North Macedonia Trade Facilitation and National Security: The Need for Border Coordination and Cooperation - Sanusi Tasiu Saulawa, Deputy Superintendent, Nigeria Customs Big Data Strategy - migration trends and risks - Florian Forster, Head, Immigration and Border Management (IBM), International Organization for Migration (IOM)

2:00pm - 3:30pm Plenary Session - Securing the Littoral Border: Understanding Threats and Challenges for Maritime Borders Our coastline borders present huge security challenges for the border community. With dramatically varied terrain from mountains and cliffs to beaches and swamps. Tens of thousands of kilometers of extended coastline with multiple lonely bays, Inlets, estuaries and Islands that can all be exploited by terrorists, illegal migrants, drug and arms smugglers, human traffickers and organised crime. How do we secure this complex and challenging environment? Rear Admiral Mohammed Ashraful Haque, Director General, Bangladesh Coast Guard Force Cristina Gatões , National Director, Portuguese Immigration and Border Service (SEF) Jim Nye, Assistant Chief Constable - Innovation, Contact & Demand & NPCC Maritime Lead, Devon & Cornwall Police, UK Rear Admiral Enrico Credendino, EUNAVFORMED Senior Representative, Hellenic Coast Guard Vice Admiral Aan Kurnia , Director General, Indonesia Maritime Security Agency

2.15pm - 3.30pm Technology Workshop See some of the latest border tech solutions demonstrated and dicussed during the Technology Workshop. Mobile Biometrics: Revolutionizing Border Security and Efficiency David Gerulski, Senior Vice President, Global Sales & Marketing, Integrated Biometrics Smart Borders start with AI-powered solutions Senior Representative, Cellebrite Addressing the challenge of land and sea borders Nicholas Phan, Market Manager Border Control and Passenger Flow Facilitation, IDEMIA Now Is The Time For The Right Kind of RADAR At Borders Senior Representative, Blighter Surveillance Systems Border Security – AI and Human Machine Teaming - Paul Hollingshead, Head of EMEA, Anduril Industries, Inc

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 54 CONGRESS NEWS

4:15pm - 5:30pm Workshops Breakout Session - Pre-Travel Risk Assessment and Trusted Travellers With a plethora of trusted traveller programs around the world, how can we make legitimate travel more seamless? Is it possible to provide better connectivity between programs? How can API / PNR play a role on pre-travel risk assessment. Europe Travel Information & Authorisation System (ETIAS) Olivier Onidi, Deputy Director General, Directorate General for Migration & Home Affairs, European Commission EU’s Entry-Exit System (EES) - Borders Are Fixed But Identification Must Be Mobile Rein Süld, Program Manager, Information Technology & Development Center, SMIT (Estonian Ministry of the Interior) Integrated identification process: The case of Germany Heiko Werner, Head of Security Group, Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, Germany

Closed Agency Workshop - Disrupting People Trafficking Routes Chair: International Organization for Migration (IOM) Human trafficking is one of the largest criminal enterprises in the world. It is a multi-billion dollar criminal business on a global scale. This is because human trafficking is a high profit, low risk enterprise that is also a low priority for most law enforcement agencies, meaning apprehension of perpetrators is low and sentences are often minimal compared that of major crimes. What can be done to disrupt trafficking routes and gangs? Border Development, Security and Migration Management in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects Asogwa Dominic Obetta, Comptroller, Nigeria Immigration Service Uche Chukwuma Azuka-Osadebe – Executive Chairman, Oshimili South Local Government Council of Delta State Gabor Kemeny, OSCE Skopje

Thursday 26th November 9:00am - 10:30am Plenary Session - The developing role of Biometrics in identity management & document fraud Formal identification is a prerequisite for effective border control. Document fraud has become an enabler of terrorism and organised crime and is linked to the trafficking of human beings and migrant smuggling.acial F recognition, fingerprinting and iris scan are now maturing technologies with increasing accuracy and performance. What is the developing and future role of biometrics in managing identity and our borders, and how are associated technologies best utilised to bridge the gap and underdocumentation, so widespread in the developing world? The Malpensa e-Gates Project - A user perspective on e-Gates security and usability at the Malpensa Airport Guido Ferraro di Silva e Castiglione, Commander (ITA Coast Guard, Res), Transport and Border Security Unit, Joint Research Centre, European Commission Biometrics on the Move and SEF Mobile Helio Freixial, IT Expert – Smart Borders PT Project manager, Portuguese Immigration and Borders Service Angelisa Corbo, Border Adviser, OSCE Dr Anna Makakala, Tanzania Immigration Service Nosakhare Igbiniere – Executive Director, The Major Resources Nigeria

9.15am - 10.30am AIRPOL Workshop - Insider Threat - setting up an insider mitigation program A step-by-step discussion to setting up an insider mitigation program, including risk assessment/vulnerabilities according to the AIRPOL model and what co-operation is required when setting up the insider mitigation program. Host: Peter Nilsson, Head of AIRPOL

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 CONGRESS NEWS 55

11:15am - 12:30pm Workshops Breakout Workshop - Smuggling & Trade in Illicit Goods, Antiquities and Endangered Species The global trade in endangered species, over 1.5million transactions per year, will drive some species to extinction if the trade is not stopped. The cultural damage inflicted by the global trade in antiquities, valued over $20 billion, cannot be quantified but is all too easily understood. So, what can the border community do to stem the flow and illegal trade of illicit goods, antiquities and endangered species? Chair: Orfeas-Konstantinos Sotiriou Antiquities Smuggling as Transnational Threat - Orfeas-Konstantinos Sotiriou, National Centre for Public Administration and Local Government Trafficking of Underwater Cultural Heritage Peter- Campbell, Assistant Director: British School at Internet and Dark Web in Antiquities Smuggling Phenomenon - Vassiliki Simi, MSc of Laws, International Law and Legal Studies, National School for Public Administration and Local Government student Borderline” Exhibitions: Ephemeral Museum Displays as Tools for Raising Awareness Against Trafficking Of Antiquities Katerina- Koukouvaou, Archaeologist, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports, General Directorate of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage, Directorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities Education and Training Responding to Operational Needs and Practices in Law Enforcement Units : Cultural Heritage Protection - Angeliki Aloupi, Director of the Committee of Prevention and Management of Social Exclusion - Hellenic Community for Behavior Analysis

Closed Agency Workshop - Biometrics - next steps Biometrics are here to stay and are an increasingly valuable tool in making borders secure. But what are the next steps and developments and implementation in biometric technology and how biometrics is lawfully used to help on the border, considering aspects such as GDPR and travel document security. Chair: Organization for Security & Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Glen Wimbury, Technology & Innovation Lead, Future Borders, Border Force UK* Guenter Schumacher, Researcher, European Commission, ec · Joint Research Centre (JRC)*

2:00pm - 4:00pm Plenary Session - The Future Trends and Approach to Alternatives for Securing Borders Brexit, the US/Mexico Wall, Greek/Turkish borders are forcing the debate about future border developments. But could any or all of them really supply the blue print for the future of borders for land, sea and air? Has Integrated Border Management (IBM) proven successful? What’s the latest thought leadership in enhancing border protection and management to counter the ever changing challenges? Senior Representative, Center for Security Studies (KEMEA), Greece The Role of Gender Equality in BSM Inesa Nicolaescu, Associate Border Security Officer, OSCE Health and Humanitarian border management programs Judith Knöpfli, Project Manager, IOM / Immigration and Border management unit, Niger Use of Technology for Security and Development of South Asian Borders Manoj Kumar, Second in Command, Indian Border Security Force Strengthening Trust and Cooperation at the Eastern Border of the EU. Current and Future trends in the EU Border Management Rimutis Klevečka, Ambassador, Special Envoy for Border Management, Lithuania Achieving Effective Border Security in Nigeria: A Sustainable Social, Economic and Infrastructural Development Approach Captain Junaid Abdullahi, Executive Secretary, Border Communities Development Agency, Nigeria Non-governmental participation in integrated border management Iryna Sushko, Executive Director, Europe Without Barriers Comprehensive Border Governance - Tony Stefan Mihaitoaia, Senior Border Management and Security Adviser, International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) 4:00pm Congress Round Up and Close

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 56 CONGRESS NEWS

Site Visits to Port of Piraeus / Athens International Airport

Tuesday 24th November – 8.30am-12noon

Port of Piraeus Athens International Airport

The Port of Piraeus is the chief sea port of Piraeus, Greece, Athens International Airport is the largest international situated upon the Saronic Gulf on the western coasts of airport in Greece, serving the city of Athens and region of the Aegean Sea, the largest port in Greece and one of Attica. It began operation on March 2001 and is the main the largest in Europe. With about 18.6 million passengers base of Aegean Airlines, as well as other smaller Greek Piraeus was the busiest passenger port in Europe in 2014. airlines. Athens International is currently the 27th-busiest Since its privatization in 2009 the port’s container handling airport in Europe. The airport currently has two terminals, has grown rapidly. According to Lloyd’s list for top 100 the main terminal and the satellite terminal accessible by an container ports in 2015 Piraeus ranked 8th in Europe. underground link from the main terminal. It is designed to Piraeus handled 4.9 million twenty-foot equivalent unit be extended in a modular approach over the ensuing years containers (TEU’s) in 2018, an increase of 19,4% compared in order to accommodate increases in air travel. These with 2017 climbing to the number two position of all extensions are planned in a six-phase framework. The first Mediterranean ports. (and current) phase allows the airport to accommodate 26 million passengers per year. In 2004, it was declared European airport of the year.

Spaces are limited so ensure you book your place on the site tour early at www.world-border-congress.com

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 WEBINAR LIBRARY 57

Watch the latest webinar recordings at www.border-security-report.com/webinar-library

Challenges at Argentina, Paraguay Border Security and Migration Challenges and Uruguay Borders in the Context in South East Europe of Counter-Terrorism and Related In partnership with the OSCE Transnational Organized Crime View directly at www.border-security-report.com/ In partnership with the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre osce-border-security-seeurope View directly at www.border-security-report.com/ tri-border-webinar

Coronavirus Pandemic and Its Digital Intelligence for Safer Borders Effects on Safe and Dignified Migration by Cellebrite in West Africa View directly at www.border-security-report.com/ In partneship with the cellebrite-digital-intelligence Ghana Immigration Service View directly at www.border-security-report.com/ west-africa-migration

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 58 VIDEO LIBRARY

Watch more videos at www.border-security-report.com/video-library

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 INDUSTRY NEWS 59

Winnipeg International Airport Republic of Seychelles deploys Launches Vision-Box Automated Travizory technology to Border Control eGates for streamline travel authorization NEXUS Travellers The Republic of Seychelles is today going live with Travizory technology to facilitate the collection and Winnipeg Airports Authority (WAA) contracted Vision- analysis of traveler documentation to ensure re- Box to deploy six of its newest generation ABC GT-11 opening of the borders in the safest manner. This is eGates with biometric facial clearance for the NEXUS a mere three weeks after the agreement was signed, Program.. following Cabinet of Ministers’ approval for the installation and deployment of the technology.

Beginning September citizens. Travellers enrolled 1, 2020, six Vision-Box in the NEXUS program avoid Automated Border Control border entry lines by using The new technology allows this way makes it faster (ABC) eGates will greet specially reserved lanes Seychelles health authorities and more accurate for our arriving travellers enrolled equipped with identity to collect identity and authorities, and reduces in the NEXUS Program at screening platforms for health information directly paperwork. We wanted Winnipeg International expedited checks when from the traveler via easy to move to a digital and Airport. As the only entering the country from to use web and mobile paperless gathering of international airport in anywhere in the world. apps. The information is information, following the fed securely into a single recommendations of ICAO, the Province of Manitoba, The ABC eGates will facilitate Winnipeg is an important system, providing advance IATA, and the WTTC for and speed up the border information about all touchless and paperless travel hub for the region, clearance of arriving NEXUS having served close to 5 travelers wishing to travel travel. The new system enrolled passengers from all to the Seychelles. The removes the guesswork million aviation passengers international locations using in 2019. system gives authorities the for airlines at check-in and safe and secure automated capability to run rapid and boarding. And, perhaps NEXUS is a trusted traveller biometric facial matching. efficient vetting procedures most importantly, it makes program operated by This is the first time that ABC to minimize COVID-19 risks the passenger journey Canada Border Services Biometric eGates are being and other security risks. smoother and provides Agency (CBSA) that deployed to process NEXUS Alan Renaud, Principal more peace of mind to expedites border crossings enrolled travellers instead travelers that they will not for pre-approved and Secretary for Civil Aviation, of the regularly used NEXUS Ports & Marine, said, be stopped on their way”. enrolled Canadian, kiosks. American, and Mexican “Streamlining the process

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 60 INDUSTRY NEWS

Swedish Police Authority CONTROP is to supply awards multi-year contract to surveillance and observation Thales for innovative travel systems for new ships and identity documents currently being built for the Thales has announced that its shareholding company Vietnamese Border Guard AB Svenska Pass has been awarded the contract CONTROP has been selected to supply iSea-25HD to manufacture, personalize and deliver around 12 observation systems for installation on the new ships million ePassports, national ID cards and other identity under construction at L&T’s shipyards in India, and documents for Swedish citizens. vessels being built for the Vietnamese Border Guard, by Hong Ha shipyards in Vietnam. The systems will be delivered during 2020 and 2021.

In addition, Thales will “Having supported our provide a next generation Swedish customers for enrolment kiosk solution to more than two decades easily and securely capture in multiple industries, applicants’ biometric data this is yet another Easily interfaced with other where there are shocks and in more than 110 locations example of Thales’ onboard systems, the iSea- vibrations, the iSea-25HD in Sweden. The deal also strong commitment 25HD offers a full solution incorporates digital and includes the personalization for naval and maritime mechanical compensatory and local presence in of temporary passports and operations. Featuring mechanisms developed by support and maintenance the Nordic countries. a unique, cutting-edge CONTROP to significantly for the duration of the Moreover, this contract gyro-stabilized system, it enhance image quality. contract. reflects the continued enables a stable, continuous The iSea-25HD lightweight The Swedish ePassports growth of the secure and uninterrupted line-of- system provides maximum and national ID cards were identity market and sight (LOS) view, ensuring range surveillance initially introduced in Thales’ leadership a very clear picture, even using highly sensitive October 2005. Sweden was in travel document in the roughest of seas, sensors, including a high- one of the first countries in solutions, bringing and is robust enough to performance thermal the world to launch such superior standards of withstand even the harshest imaging (TI) camera using a project, and the Swedish technology.,” said Tommi environmental conditions 3-5µ IR detector with a passport is often ranked including fog, moisture, Nordberg, VP Europe, continuous zoom lens, a as one of the most secure salinity and excessive Identity and Biometric high-sensitivity color day passports in the world. splashing. camera, and an eye-safe Solutions at Thales.. Capable of maintaining laser range finder (LRF). boresight even in conditions

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 INDUSTRY NEWS 61

Smiths Detection wins Improving Airport Passenger contract with U.S. Customs Experience with Contactless and Border Protection for rail Temperature Monitoring at cargo inspection solutions Istanbul Grand Airport Smiths Detection has been awarded an indefinite- When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, it delivery-indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract with the impacted the aviation industry particularly severely. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Airports were seen as places that were particularly Border Protection (CBP) to provide HCVT advanced X-ray susceptible to spreading COVID-19. scanners for use at US railway checkpoints at both the northern and southern borders. The initial order value is $13.5M with initial deliveries planned for 2021.

IGA had to find an efficient because of the high volume The HCVT is a side-view, “Smiths Detection’s HCVT and practical way to of people, the devices would high-energy X-ray inspection gives U.S. Customs and minimize this risk, ensure start to overheat and not scanner used to screen Border Protection Officers passengers could pass work effectively. moving rail cars and wagons 24/7 capabilities to intercept through the airport safely, IGA considered several for dangerous or illegal dangerous goods and and keep the airport and different solutions, but cargo. Enabling for both contraband transported air travel going as much as finally decided on one from more effective and faster throughout the U.S. by rail. possible during lockdown. MOBOTIX. It was chosen screening methods, the Equipping CBP with HCVT Istanbul Airport is different for the knowledge and HCVT can penetrate over 12 technology is key in making from many other large hub experience of the team, and inches (300mm) of steel and the delivery of freight safer airports in that security the flexibility and scalability screens single or double- while allowing the logistical checks take place before of the MOBOTIX technology stacked containers at normal chain to keep moving.” passengers and visitors for additional applications operating speeds. It can also The IDIQ contract with CBP enter its terminal building. such as high-performance be connected with Custom has a $379m ceiling, allows There are seven separate perimeter protection. networks and other HCV for multiple orders of SDI entrances, each manned by IGA’s technical team was scanners to enable remote products and services under a a team of security guards. particularly impressed analysis, image comparison single contract over five years, To spot anyone coming into with the accuracy and and knowledge sharing and provides flexibility for the the airport with a high- intelligence of the MOBOTIX amongst homeland security customer in follow-on order temperature range, guards thermal camera technology agencies. decisions. The contract also used handheld devices to and its ability to manage Shan Hood, President of includes an option for service measure each person. But even the most critical Smiths Detection Inc., said: over a ten-year period. this was slow, inefficient and, challenges.

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 62 INDUSTRY NEWS

the customer experience and minimizing the risk SITA Smart Path transforms making Duty-Free quick, of COVID-19 infection for the passenger experience at contactless and convenient passengers. at a time when airports need The deployment included Beijing Capital International increased revenue. the implementation The SITA Smart Path of over 600 biometric Airport (BCIA) solution is the largest rollout checkpoints through of its kind and enables the airport including 250 Biometrics and contactless technologies mean passengers to glide through lanes of automatic gates, passengers can now glide through the airport in an the airport using only their 80 kiosks, and 30 self-bag entirely touchless experience. face as their boarding drop stations which will pass, eliminating the need process passengers from for physical touchpoints international flights.

Airbus delivers first of 16 advanced law enforcement H125 helicopters to U.S. CBP Airbus Helicopters, Inc. (AHI) has delivered the first of 16 new H125 helicopters uniquely configured for U.S. SITA has announced its shorter queuing time and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine most extensive biometric more social distancing for Operations (AMO). AMO collaborated with AHI as deployment to date and a all passengers. An added part of a long-term fleet upgrade initiative, and the new completely contactless benefit during the COVID-19 resulting configuration has led to one of the most experience for passengers era is that the process advanced, high-tech law enforcement helicopters ever traveling through Beijing removes the need to touch developed. Capital International Airport any airport equipment, (BCIA). reducing the risk of As the busiest airport in infection. China and the second SITA Smart Path has busiest in the world, BCIA already proven that it can has completely automated significantly speed up the entire passenger journey passenger processing at using SITA technology – BCIA, processing over 400 from check-in and bag drop passengers boarding an through to immigration, Airbus A380 in less than 20 security and finally boarding. minutes. Beyond passenger Passengers only need to processing, SITA Smart Path enroll once during check- also enables hands-free “Our mission is to Commissioner for AMO. in, then experience a and touchless Duty-Free safeguard the nation “Airbus Helicopters’ seamless journey through payment, removing the by anticipating and continued commitment to the airport enabled by facial need to retrieve and show a confronting security designing, manufacturing, recognition. Improved boarding pass at check out. threats,” said Steve Boyer, and delivering quality processing efficiency means This significantly improves Deputy Executive Assistant products will enable AMO

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 INDUSTRY NEWS 63

personnel to successfully primary all-encompassing advanced glass-panel of all helicopters delivered and safely carry out this STC that ensures all of the cockpit displays. The for that mission in North mission.” systems interact properly H125 is the single most America over the last The first helicopter for the with one another and with popular law enforcement decade. new configuration was the basic aircraft. helicopter in the U.S., tested and delivered from Airbus and AMO have a accounting for nearly half Airbus Helicopters, Inc.’s longstanding relationship facility in Grand Prairie, of more than 30 years, Texas. The remaining during which Airbus has aircraft are being built in delivered more than 100 Columbus, Miss, where helicopters from the a workforce made up of H120 and H125 family. 40 percent U.S. veterans This new acquisition was also produces the UH-72A made possible through Lakota for the U.S. Army a partnership with and has delivered more Davenport Aviation, an than 450 single-engine SBA-certified woman- H125 aircraft for the North owned small business American market. and HUBZone contractor Following a rigorous specializing in the supply analysis of its mission of aerospace equipment needs and next generation to federal, state and local aerospace technology, government agencies. AMO developed a set of Known for its power, requirements for the new versatility and excellent helicopters, which Airbus performance in hot put in place through and high conditions, nearly 30 Supplemental the H125 features dual Type Certificates (STCs). hydraulics, dual channel The series of STCs are engine FADEC, a crash tied together through a resistant fuel system, and

ADVERTISING SALES

Jerome Merite (France) Paul McPherson E: [email protected] (Americas) T: +33 (0) 6 11 27 10 53 E: [email protected] T: +1-240-463-1700 For Rest of World contact: E: [email protected] T: +44 (0) 1273 931 593

Border Security Report | September/October 2020 24th-26th November 2020 ATHENS, GREECE www.world-border-congress.com

Building Trust and Co-operation Co-Hosted by: through Discussion and Dialogue Confirmed speakers include: - Jim Nye, Assistant Chief Constable – Innovation, Contact & Demand & NPCC Maritime Lead, Devon & Cornwall Police REGISTER TODAY - Dr Olomu Babatunde Olukayode, Deputy Register for your Delegate Pass online Today Comptroller of Customs, Nigeria Customs - Sanusi Tasiu Saulawa, Deputy Greece lies at the crossroads of East and West, Europe and the Middle East. It lies directly opposite Superintendent of Customs, Nigeria Libya so along with Italy is the primary destination for migrants coming from that conflict zone and is Customs Service a short boat trip from Turkey, the other principal migrant route for Syrians fleeing there conflict there. - Heiko Werner, Head of Security Group, Federal Office for Migration and Greece has over sixteen thousand kilometres of coastline and six thousand islands, only two Refugees, Germany hundred and twenty-seven of which are inhabited. The islands alone have 7,500 km of coastline - Gerald Tatzgern, Head of Joint Operational Office, Public Security Austria and are spread mainly through the Aegean and the Ionian Seas, making maritime security incredibly - Peter Nilsson, Head of AIRPOL challenging. - Wayne Salzgaber, Director, INTERPOL The sheer scale of the migrant crisis in late 2015 early 2016 had a devasting impact on Greek Washington finances and its principle industry, tourism. All this in the aftermath of the financial crisis in 2009. - Tatiana Kotlyarenko, Adviser on Anti- Trafficking Issues, OSCE Despite this, both Greece and Italy, largely left to handle the crisis on their own, managed the crisis - James Garcia, Assistant Director, Cargo with commendable determination and humanity. & Biometrics – Global Targeting Advisory Division National Targeting Center – U.S. With their experience of being in the frontline of the migration crisis, Greece is the perfect place Customs and Border Protection re-convene for the next meeting of the World Border Security Congress. - Valdecy Urquiza, Assistant Director – Vulnerable Communities – INTERPOL The World Border Security Congress is a high level 3 day event that will discuss and debate General Secretariat current and future policies, implementation issues and challenges as well as new and developing - Hans Peter Wagner, National Expert, technologies that contribute towards safe and secure border and migration management. Senior Chief Inspector, Federal Police - Mile Milenkoski, Senior adviser, The World Border Security Congress Committee invite you to join the international border security and Department for borders, passports and management community and Apply for your Delegate Pass at www.world-border-congress.com. overflights, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of North Macedonia We look forward to welcoming you to Athens, Greece on March 31st-2nd April 2020 for the next - Manoj Kumar, Second in Command, gathering of border and migration management professionals. Indian Border Security Force - Rear Admiral Mohammed Ashraful www.world-border-congress.com Haque, Director General, Bangladesh Coast Guard Force for the international border management and security industry

Supported by: Media Partners:

WBSC2020 Reg A4 Advert Dec19.indd 1 25/09/2020 11:26:25