19/02/2024
Customs officers at Rina International Airport in Albania learn how to work with scanners capable of detecting money
Time of training in the use of scanners
Albanian OC groups operate mainly abroad, mainly in Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States, but Albania is the country of reference for these groups to launder illegally obtained money and enjoy the criminal proceeds.
It has been detected that a significant amount of illicit money enters the country in cash, transported by passengers or hidden in their luggage. In addition, the existence of passengers who regularly fly on air routes smuggling money into the country, known as “mules”, has been detected.
Modern scanners are effective tools in detecting prohibited substances, including cash, which are particularly difficult to visualise with older scanners. New imaging technologies greatly facilitate the detection of these substances and cash when handled by well-trained officers.
In this regard, the EU-funded project EU4FOCAL has provided Albanian customs with two recently commissioned state-of-the-art scanners and has organised training on their operation and image interpretation, given by experts from the Spanish National Police belonging to the Weapons Section and TEDAX-NRBQ.
The training took place at the international airport of Rina, and 15 customs agents in charge of operating the donated equipment were trained. A second phase of training for another 15 agents is planned for February.
