Officers of the Guyana Police Force (GPF), the Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU) and the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) on Friday graduated from a five-day course on border security hosted under the U. S.-led Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI).
Through ongoing security cooperation under the CBSI programme, the United States and Guyana partnered to stage the International Passenger Interdiction Training (IPIT) course which was held at the Police Training Centre on Camp and Young streets.
The port security training course saw the participation of nine police officers, three CANU officers and a representative of the GRA. The trainings were conducted by two officials of the U. S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency, who shared their best practices on processing passengers at ports of entry and practical exercises at airports.
The course included training on fraudulent documents, passenger targeting and analysis, interviewing techniques, smuggling and luggage examinations.
Officials from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), and Caribbean Airlines (CAL) also facilitated practical training at CJIA as part of the IPIT course.
Speaking at the closing ceremony on Friday, U. S. embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Bryan Hunt, thanked the government of Guyana for hosting the training while applauding the participants for their commitment and dedication during the course.
Hunt said that courses such as these are designed to steer the participants into working to develop their security tactics.
He noted that since the implementation of this partnership four years ago, there has been considerable progress in areas such as narcotics trafficking to maintaining public security.
“ I thank you for the work you do every day to assist in protecting our borders from criminal activities. I am confident that this training will enhance your ability to do your individual jobs and enhance regional cooperation,” Hunt told the participants.
He noted that the U. S. remains committed to continuously work on security cooperation to help Guyana improve border and airport security.
Meanwhile, Deputy Police Commissioner and Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said the GPF values the relationship between Guyana and the U. S. He noted that Guyana has benefited enormously from CBSI, adding that the government of Guyana will continue to emulate the progress on these trainings and how they impact the security sector.
Seelall urged the participants, who were all awarded with certificates, to share their newly acquired knowledge with their colleagues.
