MONROVIA – Customs officials and Regional Intelligence Liaison National Contact Points from across West and Central Africa have convened in Liberia for the 17th Joint Annual Meeting of National Contact Points of the World Customs Organization (WCO) Regional Intelligence Liaison Offices (RILO), with a focus on strengthening intelligence sharing, regional cooperation, and coordinated enforcement against smuggling and other forms of transnational crime.
Hosted by the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) through its Customs Department, the weeklong meeting is taking place at the Farmington Hotel in Margibi County under the theme, “Intelligence and Regional Cooperation in Support of a Vigilant Customs Administration Committed to Protecting Society.”
The meeting, the first to be hosted in Liberia, is expected to strengthen intelligence exchange among participating customs administrations, improve coordination of regional enforcement operations, and deepen partnerships with law enforcement institutions and regulatory agencies. More than 40 delegates representing Customs administrations from 17 countries across West and Central Africa are attending the forum.
Opening the meeting on Monday, Amandu Tejan Sesay, Director General of RILO West Africa, described the forum as a critical platform for strengthening cooperation among customs administrations across the region. He commended the Liberia Revenue Authority for hosting the gathering and emphasized the importance of intelligence sharing in disrupting criminal networks.
Sesay noted that seizures involving narcotics, counterfeit medicines, and protected wildlife represent more than enforcement statistics, as such interventions directly contribute to protecting communities and public safety.
“When intelligence is shared and connected across borders, we are able to identify trafficking routes, dismantle criminal networks, and target the individuals responsible for illicit trade,” he said.
He highlighted the vital role of National Contact Points in collecting, analyzing, and disseminating intelligence to relevant authorities capable of taking enforcement action. He also encouraged participants to develop practical recommendations, assign clear responsibilities, and establish effective follow-up mechanisms to ensure that decisions reached during the meeting are implemented.
Delegates are expected to review recommendations adopted during the previous RILO meeting in Bamako, Mali, while examining issues relating to intelligence exchange, data quality, regional operations, and the effective use of the WCO Customs Enforcement Network (CEN) and CENcomm platforms.
Customs Commissioner Calls for Intelligence-Driven Enforcement
Liberia’s Commissioner of Customs, Saa Saamoi, underscored the urgent need for stronger regional intelligence-sharing and coordinated border enforcement, warning that criminal organizations continue to exploit weaknesses in national systems and delays in information exchange.
He noted that customs administrations worldwide face increasing pressure to improve revenue collection, facilitate legitimate trade, and combat illicit activities amid growing trade volumes, technological advancements, expanding e-commerce, and increasingly sophisticated criminal networks.
“The reality is that customs administrations must respond to growing trade volumes, rapidly evolving technologies, expanding e-commerce, and increasingly sophisticated criminal networks,” Saamoi said.
He identified common forms of customs fraud, including cargo misdescription, undervaluation, origin fraud, document falsification, concealment of prohibited goods, and diversion of transit cargo.
Saamoi stressed the importance of balancing trade facilitation with effective enforcement controls, particularly through improved risk assessment and the identification of high-risk consignments.
“We must make faster clearance decisions without compromising our controls. We must reduce unnecessary physical examinations while improving our ability to identify high-risk consignments,” he stated.
He further emphasized that the effectiveness of intelligence cooperation should be measured by operational results rather than the volume of information exchanged.
“Intelligence collected but not analyzed has limited value. Intelligence analyzed but not shared in a timely manner loses its operational relevance,” he added.
Saamoi urged National Contact Points to serve as active links between national intelligence units, risk-management teams, frontline Customs officers, and regional counterparts. He also encouraged greater use of CEN, CENcomm, and other intelligence-sharing platforms to strengthen regional enforcement capabilities.
“Our borders may separate our national jurisdictions, but they do not separate the criminal networks that exploit them,” he said.
WCO Calls for Greater Regional Operational Cooperation
Speaking on behalf of the Vice-Chair of the WCO West and Central Africa Region, Ibrahim Njoya called on customs administrations to move beyond reactive enforcement and adopt proactive, intelligence-driven approaches capable of identifying emerging threats and evolving trafficking methods.
He recalled recommendations from the 2025 RILO meeting in Bamako, Mali, which encouraged customs administrations to expand their use of Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT), Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and tracking and tracing technologies to strengthen intelligence gathering and improve operational effectiveness.
Njoya also commended the Liberia Revenue Authority for involving national security and law enforcement agencies in the meeting, describing inter-agency collaboration as essential to addressing transnational criminal activity.
He disclosed that only 17 of the region’s 24 Customs administrations participated in the recent CRIFAX 11 regional operation and called for broader participation in future operations.
“The effectiveness of regional intelligence cooperation depends on the active participation of all member administrations,” he said.
Security Agencies Advocate Stronger Inter-Agency Collaboration
Representing the Government of Liberia and the Joint Security apparatus, Prince B. Mulbah, Deputy Director General for Administration of the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA), warned that increasingly interconnected criminal networks require a coordinated, whole-of-government response.
Mulbah identified the trafficking of Kush and tramadol, illicit financial flows, arms smuggling, counterfeit pharmaceuticals, and environmental crimes as major threats confronting countries across the region.
He stressed that intelligence generated by Customs authorities must be shared across law enforcement institutions to support coordinated investigations and enforcement operations.
“The sources of customs are the sources of the police. The sources of the police are the sources of the Drug Enforcement Agency. The sources of drug enforcement are the sources of our nations,” he said.
He also highlighted persistent challenges, including porous borders, limited forensic capabilities, delayed intelligence sharing, and corruption, emphasizing the need for well-trained, disciplined, and ethical security personnel.
Strengthening Regional Intelligence Networks
The meeting has brought together representatives from 17 countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cabo Verde, the Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Liberia, among others.
The RILO network forms part of the WCO’s global customs intelligence architecture, providing a platform for intelligence exchange, risk analysis, operational coordination, and capacity-building among member administrations.
Through the Liberia meeting, participating administrations are expected to develop recommendations aimed at strengthening regional intelligence cooperation, improving enforcement capabilities, and enhancing collective responses to cross-border criminal activity.
The gathering underscores the growing importance of regional partnerships in addressing security threats that transcend national boundaries. Its lasting value, however, will depend on the ability of participating administrations to translate commitments into timely intelligence-sharing, coordinated enforcement operations, and measurable results in the fight against illicit trade and transnational crime.
