Bosnia and Herzegovina strengthens inter-agency co-operation and abilities to counter terrorist financing

How to undertake effective financial investigations to identify, investigate and disrupt the financing of terrorism was in focus during a five-day training course, which concluded today, 3 June 2022 in Sarajevo. The OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) jointly organized the training course with the support of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).

Twenty-two experts from the Ministry of Security of BiH, the BiH Prosecutor’s Office, the State Investigation and Protection Agency, Intelligence Security Agency of BiH, the Ministry of Interior of the Federation of BiH, the Ministry of Interior of Republika Srpska and Brčko District Police, including eight local trainers previously trained by the OSCE and UNODC, took part in the course.

They learned about techniques and methods to assist in the successful conduct of financial investigations as part of wider counter-terrorism operations. The course was particularly aimed at strengthening inter-agency co-operation through joint work on a realistic and localized scenario, which simulated an unfolding terrorist attack.

To strengthen links with international partners, a representative of the EUROPOL European Counter Terrorism Centre presented the wide array of support it can bring to local financial investigations.

The training programme on countering the financing of terrorism (CFT) has been implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina since December 2020 with the aim to further build the country’s CFT framework to better prevent terrorists from raising, using and moving for terrorist purposes, in line with international commitments and standards.

This course was organized with the financial support of the United States within the framework of the extra-budgetary project “Train-the-trainer and Training Courses on Countering Terrorist Financing”.