Experts seconded to the Operational Co-ordination Unit (OCU), set up at the WCO Secretariat to oversee the smooth running of Operation COCAIR IV from 26 October to 3 November 2013, were welcomed by the Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya who commended the team for their commitment and wished the Operation much success.

COCAIR IV is being coordinated by the WCO in partnership with the European Commission, INTERPOL and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Also playing a key enforcement role are the WCO Regional Intelligence Liaison Offices (RILOs) for Western Africa, Central Africa and Western Europe.

The Operation is being carried out in some thirty countries in Africa as well as in Latin America and the Caribbean, and is aimed at strengthening anti-drug trafficking mechanisms in 40 international airports to intercept shipments of cocaine and other drugs bound for Europe.

The success of COCAIR IV rests on its three-phase action plan: the use of CENcomm (a WCO secure communication tool tailored to the Operation’s requirements); the organization of a train-the-trainer session in Libreville (Gabon) from 30 September to 4 October 2013; and the setting up of an OCU at WCO headquarters.