Customs Attaché at The Gambia High Commission in Dakar, Senegal, Mr. Ansumana Bojang who doubles as the National Contact Person to the Regional Intelligence Liaison Office (RILO) participated in the 13th annual joint meeting of national contact points of the World Customs Organisation (WCO) regional intelligence liaison offices for West and Central Africa conference in Dakar, Senegal. The Theme for this year’s convergence is “Intelligence in the regional context of insecurity linked to terrorism and organised crime” the meeting aims to strengthen Customs capacities in the fight against terrorism, crimes and organised crime within the region and also the fight against illicit financial flows. The four day meeting provided participants with practical information on intelligence gathering and data sharing among member countries.
In light of the deployment of technologically advanced intelligence tools and methodologies to address the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy as well as the threats posed by West and Central African insurgencies, poverty, corruption, and terrorism, the theme “Intelligence in the Regional Context of Insecurity Linked to Terrorism and Organized Crime” is particularly pertinent at this point in the COVID-19 pandemic’s recovery. With its expanding operations, Transnational Organised Crime (TOC) poses a serious and growing threat to public safety, health, democratic institutions, and economic stability around the world. This confluence of risks has explosive and destabilising implications.
The workshop’s main goal was to prepare customs authorities and significant players in the worldwide supply chain to grasp the risks that these crimes pose to the world economy as a whole and the complementing policies that go along with them.
