On Thursday 22 February, UNODC and the Government of Bolivia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for implementing AIRCOP in the country, reiterating their commitment to combat transnational organized crime at international airports. Bolivia is the tenth country in Latin America and the Caribbean to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with UNODC for implementing AIRCOP.
A Letter of Agreement (LoA) was signed on Friday 16 February between Mozambique and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) for the establishment of a Joint Airport Interdiction Task Force (JAITF) at Maputo international airport.
As part of AIRCOP, operation COCAIR VI led by the WCO took place from 9 to 17 December 2017, bringing together law enforcement services at airports in over thirty countries in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East. The main objective of the operation was to intercept any illicit substance or contraband transported by air, with a focus on cocaine, from South America to Europe, directly or via transit zones in Africa.
CRIMJUST, in collaboration with AIRCOP and the Global Programme against Money-Laundering (GPML), held a Regional Specialized Training Course on Cash Couriers in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 4 and 5 December.
The Dominican Republic’s National Drug Control Office (DNCD), AIRCOP, the Support Program to Combat Organized Crime in the Caribbean Region (ALCORCA) and the Dominican Republic Crime and Security Cooperation Project (PROCCSE) provided a “Specialized Course on Air Cargo” between 15 and 20 October in Santo Domingo.
After the signature, at the end of August, of the Letter of Agreement between UNODC and the State of Nigeria represented by National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for the implementation of the AIRCOP’s Joint Airport Interdiction Task Forces (JAITF) of Abuja, the initial training of the future task-force has been delivered between 25 September and 6 October.
Airport interdiction operations reinforced in Argentina with AIRCOP
In the framework of the AIRCOP project, the Joint Airport Interdiction Task Force (JAITF) of Bamako airport
By becoming the 13th fully operational AIRCOP team in Africa in May 2017, Ouagadougou Airport (Burkina Faso) joins a growing network of 19 Joint Airport Interdiction Task Forces (JAITFs), which will soon include the airports of Bissau and El Salvador.
Since AIRCOP’s launch in 2010, 19 inter-service Joint Airport Interdiction Task Forces (JAITFs) have been established, composed of officials from different law enforcement agencies, including police, customs, immigration and airport authorities, and over 2500 law enforcement officers have been trained at 37 selected international airports
