Bridgetown, Barbados, 24-28 October 2022 – UNODC Firearms Trafficking Section delivered a training course on detection of firearms trafficking to Customs and Immigration Service in Barbados, organised jointly with AIRCOP with the financial support of the European Union, in the framework of the Global Illicit Flows Programme.
15 Customs officials posted at the international airport and harbour were trained and enhanced their capacities to detect and intercept illicit firearms at the ports of entry and exit of the country, in line with established procedures and operational tactics. To that end, the training combined theoretical and practical activities. Trainees received lectures of experts from UNODC Firearms Trafficking Section, as well as specific sessions by experts from Barbados Police Service, ATF, SEACOP, among others. Following that, they put into practice what they had learned during the practical exercises, such as searching for concealed firearms and parts and components in vehicles, identifying risk indicators, or visiting Customs at Georgetown’s international airport.
The course included lectures on the new trends in illicit manufacturing, trafficking and diversion of firearms (such as disassembled firearms, use of the darkweb, fast parcels, 3-D printing, etc.), followed by specific tools and techniques to detect illicit firearms (risk management, profiling, concealment methods, etc.). After those sessions, the trainees had the opportunity to manipulate a variety of firearms, their parts and components and ammunition, to familiarise themselves with them; conducted a practical exercise on the identification of firearms, parts and components; and they also practiced the identification and detection of concealed firearms and their parts and components using x-ray scanners at the airport.
