US officials train local customs officers
The U.S. Embassy Regional Security Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers recently offered Wildlife Border Interdiction training to 20 Namibian Customs Officers.
The training was hosted by the Ministry of Finance Directorate of Customs and Excise on 14 August included visits to both Hosea Kutako International Airport and Eros Airport.
The course covered wildlife smuggling techniques, airport interdiction, land border interdiction, and post seizure analysis. While this specific one day course is not being offered annually, it is part of the Wildlife Border Interdiction Training Program which is a very new program that will be offered globally several times a year.
The interaction and liaison between the USFWS and Customs officers has generated future collaboration efforts. Wildlife trafficking is an area of shared interests between the U.S. and Namibian governments.
“It is a pivotal time for Southern Africa as the region battles wildlife trafficking threatening its economically vital tourism sector. The U.S. Embassy in Namibia remains supportive of the Namibian Government’s efforts to curb poaching and wildlife trafficking and looks for every opportunity to support these efforts,” said Jacques du Toit, Media Assistant at the US Embassy said.
Caption: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Investigators with the Namibian Customs Officers who received training.
