Global Counter-Smuggling Operation Completed at Border Points

Global Counter-Smuggling Operation Completed at Border Points

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Cooperation between customs and law enforcement forces has yielded impressing results.

A global counter-smuggling operation coordinated by the World Customs Organization (WCO) and INTERPOL has seized more than $460 million in cash and bearer negotiable instruments (BNIs) and some 300 weapons.

Interceptions were made at key border points in the participating countries, supported by operational units established at the WCO in Brussels, Belgium, and the INTERPOL General Secretariat headquarters in Lyon, France, to ensure an effective flow of information between customs and police.

The operation codenamed Chimera, which involved 70 countries, a total of 229 seizures/detentions were reported including cash destined for conflict zones or linked to individuals from those areas.

Focusing on express courier and mail services, the operation targeted the illicit trafficking of small arms and light weapons, cash and BNIs such as checks, bearer bonds and postal orders.

According to securitymagazine.com, an additional 349 warning messages were also issued in relation to cash and BNIs. A number of individuals were found to have declared cash on departure of one country but failed to declare it, or gave a different amount, upon arrival at their destination.

Among the key seizures was a record interception of $450 million made by customs officers in Toluca, Mexico.

WCO and INTERPOL will continue their cooperation in the second phase of operation Chimera, analyzing the results to target the actors behind the seizures.

Operation Chimera is in line with the WCO’s Punta Cana Resolution of 2015 which emphasized the need for close cooperation between customs and other law enforcement authorities with a view to enhancing border security, identifying, disrupting and dismantling criminal and destabilizing organizations and individuals.