On 25-28 March 2018, UNODC, through its Global Firearms Programme, organized a specialized practical training on the investigation and prosecution of firearms trafficking and related offences in Niger. The training was organized with the support from the National Commission for the Collection and Control of Illicit Arms of Niger (in French "Commission Nationale pour la Collecte et le Contrôle des Armes Illicites" (CNCCAI)). The city of Agadez, in the north of Niger, is a commerce crossroads for the Sahel region and a known transit hub for smugglers and migrants through the Sahara on the way to Libya and beyond. According to data from national authorities, it is also one of the regions where most firearms are seized in the country.
UNODC and local experts took part in the activity targeting frontline officers and officials and focused on providing practical skills to counter illicit firearms trafficking, including proper firearm identification, tracing procedures as well as intelligence gathering and investigations, and international cooperation, among other relevant topics.
The training included representatives from the Armed Forces, Gendarmerie, Police, the National Central Service against Terrorism and Organized Crime, Customs and the Ministry of Justice, inter alia. Through practical exercises and lively discussions, participants were not only able to benefit from the different experts present, but also from exchanging their own experiences in the filed on these issues. One of the aims in this kind of training is precisely to encourage inter institutional cooperation and information sharing in the fight against illicit firearms trafficking.
The Global Firearms Programme has been supporting the work of the National Commission for the Collection and Control of Illicit Arms of Niger since 2014 as well as in the larger Sahel sub reigon. This training was part of its continues efforts in improving firearms trafficking investigation and prosecution. Additional capacity building activities focusing on CNCCAI and the National Central Service against Terrorism and Organized Crime are foreseen for 2019 and beyond.