Albanian border officers enhance airport security skills in Milan study visit, learning good practices in document checks to tackle illegal migration

Border officers from Albania State Police participated in a study visit to Milan, Italy from 13 to 15 November 2024. The study visit was organized by the OSCE’s Transnational Threats Department, in close co-operation with the Permanent Mission of Italy to the OSCE and Polizia di Frontiera – Aeroporto Malpensa, for three officers, including one woman and two men. The visit focused on document checks and border control operations at airports, including how first and second-line document officers can effectively cooperate to stop criminals attempting to travel on forged documents.

In 2023, Tirana International Airport serviced a record 7,257,634 passengers – a 40% increase from 2022. Meanwhile, across the Adriatic Sea, Milan Malpensa Airport experienced a 22.15% increase in passengers from 2022, with 26,076,589 passengers flying in and out of the airport in 2023. As Tirana’s airport traffic continues to increase, the study visit provided an opportunity for the Albania delegation to learn from their Italian counterparts on managing increased passenger flows in their airports.

During the visit, the Albanian officers were provided with an overview of first-line passport checks and organization of operations at the airport, and an overview of second-line activities, including reporting and chain of evidence considerations for forged document criminal cases, technical equipment used, and Polizia di Frontiera’s current international co-operation initiatives with international organizations including the OSCE and Frontex. The officers were also briefed on the processes and procedures of work for the Polizia di Frontiera – Aeroporto Malpensa Forgery Desk and Border Operations.

On the second day of the visit, the participants learned more about managing irregular migration and deploying risk analysis strategies for flights arriving from countries of high risk or high irregular migration. Participants were then guided through flight checks at the gate as well as second line checks.

The visit concluded with an instructional component on drafting alerts when border police detect a forged document and need to share the information with external partners and strategies on training methodologies and developing training schedules for Albania State Police to incorporate these good practices learned on the study visit.

This study visit concludes the training cycle with the Albania State Police. The participants on this study visit had previously completed the OSCE Training of Trainers course in June 2024.

These study and training activities are part of an ongoing project supporting OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation in reducing the illegal crossing of borders by using a fake or stolen identity. This project is generously funded by the United States.