France Lends Muscle To Laos’ Security Forces

Source: Vientiane Times

Laos will need to increase the capacity of security forces working to combat illegal immigration including international crime in all its forms, officials say.

Deputy Director of the Border Management and Inspection Department under the Ministry of Public Security of Laos, Colonel Sivilay Thammasith, spoke to Vientiane Times at a recently held training course on “Irregular Immigration and Documentary Fraud” targeted at executive police under the Ministry of Public Security.

He said the training had an important role to play for Lao police in the strengthening of the operational capacities of the country’s internal security forces in its fight against illegal immigration and international crime.

The fight against irregular and illegal immigration as well as the detection of false identity and travel documents have become a priority, Colonel Sivilay said.

The development of international trade and migratory flows has led the great majority of countries to pay particular attention to international traffic in general and to the control of and the fight against irregular immigration, he added.

He went on to explain that the geographical situation of Laos enclosed between its five neighbours of Myanmar, China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, makes it even more sensitive to these migratory, but also criminal, issues.

An Immigration Liaison Officer from Hong Kong, China, Captain Dominique Bezzina, said the training focused on the fight against illegal immigration.

Captain Dominique was on hand to share her expertise in the fight against imposture and documentary fraud, her investigative techniques and the monitoring of underground economies and the management of seizures of criminal assets.

A representative from the French Embassy to Laos who works directly with security, Mr Olivier Lefebvre, said information sharing and the cementing of international cooperation reinforces the respective capacities of the security forces with the common objective of seeking greater effectiveness in the fight against organised crime.

Mr Lefebvre thanked Colonel Sivilay and the Director General of the Relations Department under the Ministry of Public Security, Colonel Anoudeth Khounkham, for that department’s collaboration in organising the training.

It was a wonderful opportunity for France to share its expertise in internal security and to establish a new rapprochement between the two directorates, he said.