#Bahamas, November 6, 2017 – Nassau – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance the Hon. Peter Turnquest said the complex nature of security is a challenge for all analysts, and tools are needed to crack complex security problems and assist in combating the proliferation and illicit trade of illegal firearms and ammunition and other contraband. As a result, DPM Turnquest said the Joint National Border Security Workshop involving 29 Bahamas Customs and Immigration Officers, is indicative of the irrefutable call to mobilise to meet the growing challenges.
The DPM was speaking at the closing ceremony of the workshop at Customs Headquarters, Friday, November 3, 2017. The training is one component of the much wider programme of works funded by the European Union’s 10th European Development Fund geared towards strengthening the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) capacity to prevent and detect illegal activity at its borders and to enable increased prosecution and higher conviction rates.
DPM Turnquest thanked the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) and the EU for coordinating and conducting the five-day workshop.
“The goals of CARICOM’s IMPACS are to significantly improve citizen security in CARICOM, create a safe, just, free and economically viable environment and advance the region’s security interests in order that citizens may achieve their human development goals.
“The strategy prioritises the common security risks and threats which our country and the region are facing.”
The DPM said the greatest of these threats is the relationship between transnational organised crime nexus of the illicit commodities of drug and guns and their primary facilitation of corruption and gangs.
“Critical to addressing this risk is the increase in trans-border intelligence/information sharing and the strengthening of our borders.”
DPM Turnquest told the participating officers that as a result of the training, they should experience improved security techniques which would allow a reduction in wait times at checkpoints as passengers and cargo of no interest can be readily identified and processed. He added that their interviewing techniques, fraudulent document inspection, body language analysis, and luggage and person examination should all experience an improvement.
By: Llonella Gilbert (BIS)
Photo Caption:
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance the Hon. Peter Turnquest attended the closing ceremony of the Joint National Border Security Workshop where 29 Bahamas Customs and Immigration Officers received certificates of completion at the Customs Headquarters, Friday, November 3, 2017. Pictured standing left to right: Comptroller of Customs, Dr. Geannine Moss; DPM Turnquest; Officer Andrew Gittens; and the Director of Immigration, William Pratt.
(BIS Photo/Llonella Gilbert)
