By Government Press Office | BELIZE
BELIZE, Belmopan – US Embassy on Friday concluded a one-week training course on Advanced Narcotics Investigations for senior officers of Belize’s enforcement units.
The training will improve the participants’ capacity to plan and coordinate investigation and interdiction of narcotics trafficking and trans-national crime in Belize. Participants included various units of the police department such as the Anti-Narcotics Unit, as well as the Belize Coast Guard, National Forensics Science Service, Customs and Excise Department, the Department of Border Management and Immigration Services, and the Joint Intelligence Operation Center.
The course addressed key strategic areas including task force management, drug trends in Belize, cybersecurity, financial investigations, strategic planning, and prosecutorial challenges, among other topics.
Drug enforcement administration attaché Loretta Moore noted that: “Recognizing the multi-dimensional threat posed by narco-trafficking in this region, training for law enforcement focused on intelligence and analytics techniques will assist the Belizean government in identifying and addressing these potential threats.”
In his remarks chief executive officer of home affairs and new growth industries, Kevin Arthurs, noted that “as a government, we must stand firm in our commitment to the nation and people of Belize, to do our part to detect, deter, and prosecute transnational criminal organizations who want to use Belize as a hub to conduct their illegal transactions”.
The week-long training was facilitated by both local and international instructors from the drug enforcement administration, office of training, director of public prosecution office, head of prosecution branch, executive director of the national forensic science services, acting commandant of the Belize Coast Guard, and senior representatives of the attorney general’s ministry.