Dubai Customs fosters regional intelligence cooperation on suspicious cargo
Dubai Customs has hosted a two-day meeting centered around the Suspicious Cargo Initiative, launched by DC in mid-2014, with the intention of further boosting communication between customs administrations in GCC states and the Regional Intelligence Liaison Office (RILO), based in Riyadh, KSA.
Attending the meeting from Dubai Customs were Saeed Al Tayer, Executive Director of Policies & Legislation Division, Talal Al Abdooli, Customs Intelligence Director, as well as other senior officers. On the part of the RILO, the Director of RILO - Middle East, Mr Faisal bin Saud Al Mujaish attended the meeting, accompanied by other RILO executives.
After welcoming guests from across the GCC, Saeed Al Tayer stressed that the meeting aims at encouraging more cooperation to serve mutual interests of the GCC states by coordinating between their customs administrations. Dubai Customs is fully committed towards boosting interaction between all GCC customs administrations, particularly in areas of sharing and communicating information amongst each other and with the RILO ME. Information sharing ensures analysis and utilization of the same in tracking local and international customs crimes. Stemming from this, Dubai Customs launched the Suspicious Cargo initiative in mid-2014, to keep a close eye on suspicious transit cargo that raises suspicions of violating customs regulations or containing illicit merchandise, Al Tayer said.
The Director of RILO - Middle East, Mr. Faisal bin Saud Al Mujaish expressed his deep appreciation to H.E. Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, Director of Dubai Customs, for launching the Suspicious Cargo initiative. He said the initiative has a tremendous impact on the region, in light of the inevitable role of sharing customs, security information in maintaining the security and stability of the GCC states.
Al Mujaish commended DCs commitment to sharing information with the RILO ME in Riyadh and customs administrations in the GCC. He encouraged other customs administrations to follow suit to ensure proper action is taken against suspicious transit cargo at its final destination.
Shedding light on the Suspicious Cargo initiative, the Director of Customs Intelligence Department, Talal Al Abdooli said it was launched by Dubai Customs on July 2014, to facilitate and encourage information sharing on suspicious shipments by customs administrations within the UAE and across the GCC region. The Customs Intelligence Department in Dubai Customs developed the initiative and devised methodologies and criteria that ensure its success. The initiative was highlighted at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Regional Intelligence Liaison Office Middle East, held in Jeddah earlier this year, where participants agreed to meet in Dubai to discuss and approve an action plan and recommendations for the initiative, Al Abdooli said.
Al Abdooli further underscored that after having ensured a full-fledged initiative is in place, they would take it to the WCO to approve it as a recommendation for all WCO member states, in addition to naming it a joint initiative on regional and global scales to maintain safety and security to all.
