OSCE trains border guards in Serbia on detecting forged and counterfeited documents

A one-week training course for 15 Serbian border guards to enhance their skills in detecting forged and fraudulent documents as well as imposters was held from 29 October to 2 November 2018 in Belgrade. The course was organized by the Border Security and Management Unit of the OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department.

The course examined the latest trends in counterfeiting and the methodologies of identifying forgeries. Practical exercises focused on differences between original, forged and false documents, and the effective use of equipment such as magnifying lenses to identify forged document.

The OSCE also donated equipment, including professional magnifying lenses, which could be used for passport control exercises during training activities.

Danilo Stevanovic, Assistant Head of the Border Police Directorate within Serbia’s Interior Ministry, opened the course by thanking the OSCE for organizing the course and the donation of equipment. The course was conducted by two experts from the Directorate using training materials approved by the OSCE and the European Union’s border agency FRONTEX.

Alessandro Nanni, Border Adviser at the OSCE Border Security and Management Unit, said:  “The OSCE welcomes the opportunity to provide the necessary skills to the Serbian border guards, in the current global context characterized by transnational threats. The guards need to know the new methods adopted by criminals to forge and counterfeit documents; the criminals are continuously evolving their operations to skip border controls.” 

Umberto Severini, Senior Organized Crime Adviser within the OSCE Mission to Serbia, said: “The training course complements the work of the OSCE Mission to Serbia in supporting the local authorities in combating transnational threats, and supporting the border guards in updating their detection methods.”

The course follows a series of several courses on the detection of forged travel documents organized by the OSCE Border Security and Management Unit since 2015 in different countries, especially in South-Eastern Europe.