General News of Thursday, 19 November 2009

Source: GNA

Immigration officers undergo intelligence course

Accra, Nov. 19, GNA - The Assistant Director of Immigration in-charge of Operations Unit, Mr Laud Affrifa, has appealed to officers of the Ghana Immigration Service to give exact and reliable information as frontline officers on the exit, entry and movement of foreigners across the borders to ensure that intelligence report from the Service to other security agencies is accurate.

He said it was in connection with this that the course had been organised by the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) for officers to equip them with the needed skills to gather and disseminate information accurately for the Service and the country.

A statement issued in Accra on Thursday by the GIS said Mr Affrifa was speaking at the opening of a five-day intermediate-level course on intelligence gathering in Accra.

He said the country was moving into the era of intelligence-led immigration control after the September 11 attack. Mr Affrifa urged the officers to be observant and very receptive during and after the course.

In his closing remarks, the Deputy Director in charge of the Operations Unit, Mr. Moses Gyamfi, urged the officers to excel in their field of endeavour with the knowledge acquired and make sure it had a positive impact on their comrades.

He said they should use what they had been taught especially in intelligence report writing.

The course which was jointly organised by the Intelligence and Training Unit of GIS brought together 24 senior officers drawn from the Immigration Headquarters, Greater Accra Regional Office, Enforcement Unit and the Kotoka International Airport KIA.

About 157 officers have already been trained in the basic course on intelligence gathering throughout the country and other officers outside the Greater Accra Region will also benefit from the intermediate course by the close of the year.