Law enforcement officers display skills gained in regional training |26 May 2022
Fifteen law enforcement officers from Tanzania, Mozambique, Comoros, Mauritius, South Africa, Kenya and Seychelles were yesterday morning in the bay of St Anne Island to demonstrate the skills they had learned in a three-week advance Visit Board Search and Seizure (VBSS) regional training.
The training was facilitated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) under the Global Maritime Crime Programme (GMCP), in partnership with the Law Enforcement Centre for Security and Safety at Sea (Reflecs3). It was to enhance their capacity to combat maritime crimes such as piracy, hijacking and kidnapping, smuggling and transporting illegal cargoes (such as drugs etc..), illegal fishing and human trafficking among others in the East African region.
The VBSS demonstration exercise took place onboard Seychelles Coast Guard patrol vessel ‘Etoile’ in the presence of UNODC and Reflecs3 representatives and three honourable members of the Defence and Security Committee in the National Assembly, namely Clifford Andre (chairman), François Adelaide (vice-chair) and Churchill Gill.
In the operation, ‘Etoile’ was the target vessel to be boarded. It was only a demonstration of a compliant flag state verification boarding. Once the vessel of interest flag state was verified, the boarding team requested permission from the HQ to disembark. Once permission was received, the boarding team disembarked from the vessel and returned to SCG for debriefing.
VBSS trainings are designed to capture enemy vessels, combat terrorism, piracy, smuggling, customs check, safety and other related maritime inspections. It is only after an assessment on all information gathered and also on what has been found onboard that would determine the fate of the vessel on whether it will be escorted back to port for prosecution procedures or whether to be released to continue its journey.
According to Flavienne Dogley, executive assistant at Reflecs3, the UNODC under the GMCP in collaboration with Reflecs3 has from since February 2022 been hosting a series of training comprising VBSS and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) trainings which are protective measures taken in situations in which chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear warfare (including terrorism) hazards may be present. The Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Awareness course is designed to provide initial knowledge about IEDs and proper safety while the Pier Side Vessel Search (PVS) training provides searching techniques on vessels at ports to prevent and disrupt contraband smuggling and drug trafficking.
These courses have been conducted from February until May 2022 and the VBSS regional advanced training was the last in the series for the first half of the year which conclude the boarding exercise onboard ‘PS Etoile’.
Lieutenant Luigi Loizeau from the Special Forces (TAZAR) of the Seychelles Defence Forces (SDF) said that the training and demonstration exercise went very well and was well coordinated taking into account the language barrier between different nations’ participants.
He added that the training provides space for the different countries to collaborate with each other and to share information.
He further noted that the training has enhanced the knowledge of the local participants who are now in a position to share what they have learned with their other colleagues.
Honourable Andre stated that the presence of the Defence and Security committee was to understand how the different affiliated organisations operate so that they can better assess their budgetary demands before the National Assembly.
He noted that such exercises are beneficial to the country if they are done the right way taking into account that we have to honour our international conventions and obligations.
The accompanying photos show some highlights of the demonstrations.
Patrick Joubert
Photos by Thomas Meriton
