The Deputy Commissioner of Police responsible for Support Services Mr Ikwatlhaeng Bagopi says crimes pertaining to wildlife are equally serious and punishable by law just like any other offences.

Speaking at the official opening of the Interpol Wildlife Crime Investigative Skills course at the Police College today (22/08/11), Mr Bagopi said laws passed by respective parliaments and governments to address any form of criminality should be vigorously enforced.

He said wildlife contributes significantly to economies of majority of the African countries, and as such, enforcement of legislation was crucial for ensuring the protection of wildlife resources.

He further said law enforcement strategies and operations need to remain focused and relevant through promotion of joint training to benefit from open discussions, experience sharing, skills transfer, net working and strengthened regional cooperation.

Mr Bagopi said interacting through training can identify common challenges and joint strategies, saying solutions can also be jointly implemented. He encouraged the course participants to work hard during the training to be able to generate initiatives and good practices and further the good cause of regional law enforcement cooperation.

He thanked INTERPOL and the Department of Environment in Canada and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) for their successful planning, financing and delivery of the training.

On his part, a representative of IFAW Mr Jason Bell-Leask said INTERPOL, IFAW and others were in partnership with African countries to help fight illegal wildlife trade.

He said ivory, rhino horn, abalone and others, often rendered the region extremely vulnerable to exploitative and corrupt practices. He said lack of resources for enforcement make it difficult to enforce the laws and regulations already in place in many countries.

He however said IFAW welcomes INTERPOL’s efforts to enhance capacity in Southern Africa in combating this illegal trade, saying it was in every government interest to stamp out illegal activities and more efficient enforcement efforts through targeted capacity building approaches such as this Interpol Wildlife Crime Investigative Skills course.

The INTERPOL representative responsible for Environmental programme – Wildlife, Mr Bill Clark thanked Botswana Police Service and the Botswana Department of Wildlife and National Parks for hosting the training program.

 He acknowledged that the wildlife training came at a time of significantly intensified criminality against wildlife and noted that the unified cooperative action against criminals will surely produce better results than individual countries acting alone.

The course, which attracted 27 participants from 10 African countries, equipped law enforcement officers with skills of investigating wildlife crime.

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