The SOCU director catalogued crimes like drug and human trafficking, smuggling, money laundering, and armed robbery as frequent crimes in the border communities. These crimes are on the increase, according to the ONS chief.
Local chief in Kissy Teng, Kailahun district, the easternmost district in Sierra Leone, Nyuma Yonkendeh said that in Koindu and Jendema alone, two major border towns, there are over 50 illegal crossing points into Guinea and Liberia respectively. This poses grave security threat, as well as making it impossible for security operatives to track down transnational and organized crimes.
To strengthen collaboration and coordination among various security agencies operating at the borders, UNDP supported the ONS in a week-long training series (May 23- May 27) for about 90 border security operatives at the land border cross points. The trainings targeted Koindu in East bordering Guinea, Jendema in South bordering Liberia and Gbalamuya in the North bordering Guinea aimed at strengthening collaboration between various security units initially through measures to prevent transnational and organised crime in these hard-to-reach border communities.
These participants from various institutions within the security sector charged with the responsibility of protecting Sierra Leone’s internal and external security threats deliberated on concept like Transnational and Organized Crime, Inter-Agency Collaboration in Response to Transnational Threats and Public Health, Counter Terrorism, Detecting Human Trafficking at Border Crossing Points, Immigration’s Role in Effective Boarder Control, and Effective use of INTERPOL tools in Intelligence Gathering and Communication.
UNDP Security Sector Project Adviser Odia Godfrey Aropet, noted that UNDP will continue to support ONS to strengthen gaps in interagency coordination and collaboration between the various security sector agencies, including communities at the borders areas, thereby aiding the professional delivery of their mandates in promotion of security, peace and development of the country.
Local Unit Commander Kambia Police Division, Superintendent Francis Hazeley, who participated in the training in Kambia said that the border villages are largely under-manned, adding that his division has had reports of how criminals are plotting to use border communities to engage in transnational and organized crimes.
UN Development Programme (UNDP)’s Security Sector Reform project focuses on supporting the government of Sierra Leone in strengthening its security institutions to ensure the safety of its citizens and providing more inclusive, equitable and accountable security sector as well as improve the services for the marginalized communities.
Credit: UNDP Communications Unit on +232 99 289 955, or email: communication.sl@undp.org .