Caribbean border security officials have been urged to collaborate more in the fight against cross border illegal activities, including terrorism.
“Many of us are confronting issues we have never had to grapple with before at a rapid pace that demands partnership. In the face of porous borders, shifting criminal and terrorist threats, it is indeed true that no man is literally an island and no man or country succeeds alone,” Minister of State in the Jamaican Ministry of National Security, Rudyard Spencer told delegates attending the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Joint Standing Committees of Chiefs of Immigration and Comptrollers of Customs (CICC) that ends in Kingston on Thursday.
Rising levels of crime
Spencer said that in an age of terrorism, cybercrime and organized criminal networks, CARICOM continues to face rising levels of crime.
“Gang warfare in the never-ending battle for control of scarce resources continues to tear apart the social fabric of our communities and countries and destroy the lives of so many of our young people.”
Spencer urged the chiefs of immigration and comptrollers of customs to continue promoting the rejection of corruption in the forms of illegal drug trade, trafficking of firearms, identity theft and data breaches, among their nationals they have employed, and citizens.
Reject corruption
“One of the most effective ways we can confront the challenges outlined is to reject corruption and the behaviors that support it. Never forget that no criminal act can bear fruit without compromise and someone deciding to look the other way,” Spencer said.
He told the conference, hosted by the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA) and the Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) that it was “timely” Jamaica was hosting the event.
