Building East African law enforcement capacity to detect fake travel documents

27 April 2018

NAIROBI, Kenya – Boosting East Africa’s border security by developing its ability to detect and investigate counterfeit travel document crime was the focus of an INTERPOL train-the-trainer course.

INTERPOL’s 5th Security Document Examination train-the-trainer course took place in Nairobi from 25-27 April 2018.
INTERPOL Counterfeit Currency and Documents Coordinator Daniela Djidrovska with 5th Security Document Examination train-the-trainer participants.
Regional experts examine new printing methods, latest document security features, recent document verification technologies and current examination techniques.
The capacity building event brought together 20 border control officers and forensic document examiners from Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan and Tanzania.
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The three-day (25-27 April) training course, jointly delivered by INTERPOL’s Counterfeit and Security Documents Branch and international digital security company Regula, enabled regional experts to examine new printing methods, latest document security features, recent document verification technologies and current examination techniques.

“INTERPOL training courses of this kind give law enforcement a unique opportunity to grasp contemporary forensic examination methods and make them better at detecting and sharing intelligence on how criminals are trying to use fake documents to cross border control undetected," said George Kinoti, Director of the Kenyan Police Criminal Investigations Department. 

To strengthen the region’s ability to detect criminals and terrorists at border control, the security training event brought together 20 border control officers and forensic document examiners from four countries – Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan and Tanzania – in the Kenyan capital.

“This training course served to consolidate the skillsets of front line officers who, using Regula equipment, examine travel documents every day in an effort to prevent high-risk individuals from entering East African countries,” said Andrei Dumski of Regula which regularly helps INTERPOL deliver security document examination training events around the world.

“By demonstrating how INTERPOL’s global tools and databases can be used to make borders impermeable to criminals, this fifth joint INTERPOL-Regula training event has given regional forensic and border experts the latest contemporary techniques they need to detect fake documents in key strategic locations,” said INTERPOL Counterfeit Currency and Documents Coordinator Daniela Djidrovska.