In order to pursue its efforts to develop its mechanisms for enforcement against organized crime and improve its border security, Benin is currently hosting a national COPES workshop. This event, which was opened by Colonel Nestor Degila, Director of Resource Management, representing the Director General, is taking place from 18 to 22 May 2020. This remote pilot training, covering evidence collection and first-time requests, is a first for the COPES Programme, which has found a way of continuing to conduct its activities in spite of the coronavirus crisis. The purpose of this initiative is to maximize the impact of the activities of Benin Customs and to integrate its efforts more effectively against organized crime through the provision of additional support to managers and front-line officers by making the approved COPES methodologies and best practices available to them. Customs officials are thus trained in the techniques of evidence collection, seizures and investigations. This five-day training course covers the whole spectrum of Customs enforcement procedures, ranging from detection to prosecution, including an initiation into forensics. The professional standards taught must make it possible, where appropriate, to conduct criminal investigations and prosecutions that lead to the imposition of criminal sanctions.

For further information about the COPES Programme, please contact Mr. Gilles Thomas (gilles.thomas@wcoomd.org), COPES¹ Programme Coordinator.