11/10/2017
The SEACOP Seaport Cooperation Project has inaugurated a training course for Maritime Intelligence Units with the participation of three countries
Training course for Maritime Intelligence Units
The SEACOP Seaport Cooperation Project has inaugurated a training course for Maritime Intelligence Units with the participation of three countries: Colombia, Panama and Dominican Republic.
This is the first time that activities have been organised in Latin America as part of this €6 million seaport cooperation project, which is financed by the European Union and organised by the FIIAPP. Its aim is to fight maritime drug trafficking and the criminal networks involved. A variety of security officers are therefore being trained from different regions: Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America.
Colombia, Panama and Dominican Republic are vital for the development and implementation of the project due to their traditions and strategic locations. Ana Hernández, FIIAPP Security and Justice Department manager, stated that “they are an example of the fight against drugs and are making a constant, ongoing effort to prevent this scourge that affects all the countries of origin, transit and destination”.
During the opening ceremony of the course, ship’s captain Iván Cabrera Martínez, anti-drug director of the Colombian National Navy, said: “We are seeing an increase in maritime drug trafficking along the Caribbean coast, although the main production and manufacturing is concentrated on the Pacific coast”.
The FIIAPP signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the government of Panama and is in the final stages of negotiations to sign one with Colombia so that an institutional framework for cooperation can be created under which a variety of training activities can be implemented and materials donated for intercepting boats that might be transporting cocaine and disbanding the criminal gangs involved.
The project, which started in 2009 as part of the European programme to combat trafficking on the Cocaine Route and the European Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace aims to bring stability and peace to the member countries.
