28/09/2021
The European ECI Niger project has delivered computer equipment to the Nigerian police with the aim of improving the skills of their personnel
Delivery of the material to the staff of the Territorial Surveillance Division
Niger’s Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DST, from its acronym in French) has hosted an act in which it delivered archival biometric identification and tracking material of people linked to irregular immigration and human trafficking criminal networks.
The event was organised by the ECI Niger project, which has European funding and is coordinated by the FIIAPP. The Niger ECI is being implemented by the National Police forces of Spain and France, which are working alongside their Nigerien counterparts, with the aim of strengthening the fight against criminal networks linked to irregular immigration, human trafficking and migrant smuggling.
The equipment provided in this activity includes computers, fingerprint scanners and multifunction printers. This handover of material will allow the Nigerien police to reinforce the skills of its personnel, specifically in the Special Investigations Division. “This donation once again demonstrates the commitment of the European Union together with Niger in the fight against migrant smuggling, human trafficking and related crimes”, said Nigerien Police Commissioner General Souley Boubacar. According to him, in addition to helping to improve the capacity of agents and strengthen the work environment, this support in computer equipment has been added to the numerous police operations aimed at reducing the smuggling of migrants, human trafficking and related crimes.
The event was attended by the Spanish Ambassador to Niger, Nuria Reigosa, who recalled that the collaboration between the three police forces (Nigerien, Spanish and French) is resulting in an excellent job.
One of the Nigerien police officers present at the event added that: “This valuable contribution aims to promote quality surveys and collect reliable data to strengthen the operational capacities of the Special Investigations Division of the Directorate of Territorial Surveillance and its territorial units.”
In the four years they have been working in the field, the project has obtained quantitative and qualitative operational results in its tireless fight against the mafia and human rights abuses.
As of 31 December 2020, the actions of the ECI-Niger project have made it possible to dismantle significant national and international networks. 475 people have been arrested, of which 439 have been imprisoned. 72 cars and 45 motorcycles have been seized from suspected traffickers as well as 185 falsified documents. At the same time, several cooperation actions have been carried out with countries of the subregion, in particular, with Nigeria, Benin and Senegal.
In addition, ECI Niger has organised around 20 training sessions on the use of technical equipment, on human rights, gender, document fraud and on border control, among other matters. Likewise, since the beginning of the project, 41 alert forms have been used to disseminate cases of document fraud.
