The coordinator of the SEACOP project in Africa, Mr. Eric Wiart, and the deputy coordinator, Mr. Thierry Thimon, carried out a mission to The Gambia on 8, 9 and 10 February 2022, in order to assess the conditions for the implementation of phase V of the SEACOP project there.
This project, which began in 2012 in West Africa, aims to strengthen the fight against trans-regional illicit trafficking by sea. It seeks in particular to encourage the establishment in the partner countries of the region (Togo, Benin, Senegal, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Cape Verde) of joint ship control and maritime intelligence units.
Various meetings (Drug Law Enforcement Agency -DLEAG-, customs, port authority, representatives of the Spanish Civil Guard, German police and Frontex agency) were held in addition to a meeting organised by the EU delegation in Banjul during which, in addition to the regional coordinator of the SEACOP project, representatives of the SWAIMS, OCWAR T and GOGIN projects spoke to representatives of a large number of Gambian agencies.
The context of local organised crime in The Gambia is conducive to various forms of illicit trafficking, particularly cocaine trafficking, but also trafficking in protected plant species (falsely declared timber to Asia).
