Lima, Peru. From 3 to 7 December, the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) in coordination with the National Superintendence for the Control of Security Services, Arms, Ammunition and Explosives for Civilian Use (SUCAMEC, in Spanish) and the company SECURITAS carried out the Course for Interdicting Small Arms, Ammunition, their Parts and Components (ISAAP), which was aimed at X-ray scanner operators with responsibilities in the control of postal packages, couriers, luggage and others, assigned at entry, exit and other strategic points in Peru.
This course, held for the first time in Peru, trained about 40 participants from the National Superintendence of Tax Administration (SUNAT, in Spanish), the Peruvian Postal Services (SERPOST, in Spanish), the National Penitentiary Institute (INPE, in Spanish), as well as personnel from private security companies of SECURITAS and Hermes.
Through a theoretical-practical methodology, participants were trained to strengthen their capacities in the interpretation of X-ray images with a focus on the identification of small arms, ammunition, their parts and components that can be transported in packages, parcels and luggage. The course for ISAAP also included a series of online training sessions through the platform developed by the Center for Adaptive Security Research and Applications (CASRA), as well as a series of practical exercises and concealment methods.
UNLIREC has designed this course to assist Latin American and Caribbean States in their efforts to combat illicit arms trafficking in line with international instruments on the subject, thus contributing to reducing the undesirable effects of small arms proliferation and armed violence in the region.
This edition of the course for ISAAP was made possible thanks to the financial support of the Federal Republic of Germany.