Sixty one Customs and Border Control officers received awareness training to better tackle some forms of incoming and outgoing illegal financial activities.

·        Earlier this month, they attended five one-day sessions covering various aspects of the topic.

·        The CBC organised workshop also dealt with handling visitors from countries that face international sanctions.

Grand Cayman (GIS) – Sixty one Customs and Border Control (CBC) officers were trained to better track, tackle and deal with specific kinds of financial crimes that they could encounter at entry and exit points of the Cayman Islands. These include the possible transportation of cash or Bearer Negotiable Instruments (BNIs).

The training sessions were conducted as five, intensive one-day workshops by the CBC training unit at CBC Headquarters located at the Airport Road Office complex.

The trainers were from several government agencies that deal with such matters: CBC’s Deputy Director (Training), Mr. Marlon Bodden and Anti Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Compliance Officer, Mr. Martin Bodden Jr; Head of the Anti-Money Laundering Unit, Mr. Francis Arana; Senior Policy Analyst in the Attorney General’s Chambers, Mr. Duwayne Lawrence and Financial Reporting Authority’s Cayman Islands Sanctions Coordinator, Ms Kim France.

Compliance Officer Bodden explained that the officers received training to get enhanced awareness and sensitisation in handling border control related procedures for currency transportation, anti-money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing.

They were also trained to better deal with persons arriving from jurisdictions that currently face international sanctions (such as Iran or North Korea), he elaborated.

CBC Director, Mr. Charles Clifford noted that the training was in response to the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) mutual evaluation report that resulted in the Cayman Islands being placed on a 12-month period of observation. Director Clifford also stated that this awareness training had been previously delivered to new employees as part of the Department’s training strategy. 

“We are focused on providing training and pertinent knowledge and development for our officers, who are border control agents at entry and exit points of the Cayman Islands such as at airports and seaports, so that they are well equipped to deal with standing procedures and key processes,” Mr. Clifford commented.

“And we will continue to ensure our officers constantly improve their skills to remain vigilant as they undertake to uphold all the procedures in place for protecting our borders, and the people of the Cayman Islands, against increasingly sophisticated crimes,” he added.

Photo caption Photo Supplied

A group of Customs and Border Control (CBC) officers undergo training at the CBC Office on Airport Road as part of five one-day educational workshops.