Montego Bay and Kingston, Jamaica, 15-22 November 2022 – UNODC’s Firearms Trafficking Section delivered a training course, jointly organised with AIRCOP Programme, on detection of firearms trafficking to AIRCOP Units and officials from Customs, Constabulary Force and Central Aviation Authority posted at Sangster and Norman Manley International Airports.
A total of 25 officers were trained and enhanced their capacities to detect illicit firearms at the airports, in line with established procedures and operational tactics, as well as to conduct operational analysis that can help in conducting intelligence-led operations. To that end, the training combined theoretical and practical activities. Trainees received lectures of experts from UNODC Firearms Trafficking Section, which included sessions on the new trends in illicit manufacturing, trafficking and diversion of firearms (such as disassembled firearms, use of the dark web, fast parcels, 3-D printing, etc.), specific tools and techniques to detect illicit firearms (risk management, profiling, concealment methods, etc.), and operational analysis methodologies. After those sessions, the trainees had the opportunity to put into practice what they had learned during practical exercises, such as detecting concealed firearms and parts and components in luggage using airport’s x-ray scanners, and conducting operational analysis to solve a fictional case of firearms trafficking of transnational nature.
The training was organised in the framework of the European Union-funded Global Illicit Flows Programme, and as part of the constant cooperation between UNODC’s global programmes.
