U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration provides training in undercover and surveillance techniques |10 February 2023
The training’s facilitators
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is conducting a training on ‘Undercover and Surveillance Techniques’ in Mauritius this week with law enforcement agencies from Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar, and Comoros.
Six officers from the Anti-Narcotics Bureau of the Seychelles Police Force are participating in the training.
The opening ceremony for the training took place on Monday morning at the Mauritius Revenue Authorities (MRA) headquarters, Port Louis Port Terminal, in the presence of Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth and Chargé d’Affaires of the U.S. embassy to Mauritius and Seychelles, Satrajit Sardar.
This initiative is part of the United States government’s Western Indian Ocean Island Nations Counternarcotics Project, which was launched in 2022 to partner with Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar, and Comoros on enhancing the capacity of law enforcement to work together to combat illicit criminal activity and disrupt drug trafficking networks.
This effort follows the commitments made at the recent U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit to invest, along with our African partners, to implement and sustain security sector capacity and reforms.
In his remarks at the opening ceremony, U.S. embassy chargé d’affaires said, “Out of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit emerged a number of key commitments reflecting the strength of the U.S-Africa partnership. This regional effort to work alongside Mauritius and other countries is just one sign of the investments commitment of the United States is making, along with support of our African partners, to implement and sustain gains in security.”
The course consists of classroom-based instructions and practical exercises, which will simulate a complex drug investigation covering several locations.
Four DEA instructors from Virginia, two DEA agents from Maputo, two DEA agents from Dar es Salaam, one DEA Diversion Manager from Cape Town, and one Regional Representative from the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) have come to Mauritius to assist with the training.
Text & photos contributed
