Our laboratory is equipped with sophisticated (state of the arts equipment) for every forensic document investigation and guarantees accurate results. The handlers of the Lab are abreast with international trends, constantly updating the database of the Center with every imaginable piece of security/identity documents for quick referencing, and making use of the latest technology and best practice in document forensic examination to produce guaranteed results.
The Minister of the Interior, Mr Ambrose Dery, has called for an effective border security and innovative and proactive approach to managing migration.
He said recent developments
regarding security across the West Africa subregion and the globe at large and
threats of terror, made having a robust border security and its related issues
such as high quality profiling and document fraud identification imperative.
“Transnational crimes mostly take place through the abuse of documents,
especially source and travel documents such as passports. Therefore, there
is need for concerted action in the fight against transnational crimes,”
he said.
Mr Dery made the call in a speech read on his behalf by the Deputy Minister for
the Interior, Mr Henry Quartey, at the inauguration of the Ghana Immigration
Service (GIS) Document Fraud and Expertise Centre (DFEC).
New office
The DFEC was established in 2010 to train agents in document fraud and serves
as a back office for all document fraud identification matters.
The unit operated originally from rented accommodation at Dzorwulu in Accra,
but now has permanent offices of its own, which is located at the Airport
enclave.
The new DFEC office was constructed and equipped with support from the German
Federal Police and the current spacious facility has the capacity to train
personnel of the GIS and other relevant institutions such as the Ghana Police
Service, Judiciary and Passport Office in document fraud detection.
As part of its mandate, the centre conducts investigation into documents upon
request from immigration liaison officers and also trains agents on ways of
identifying a fraudulent document.
Mr Dery said the GIS had a crucial role to play in securing the country’s
borders and maintaining its territorial integrity and by extension ensuring the
economic wellbeing of the people of Ghana.
He said the new office building had come at the right time to augment efforts
that the government and the GIS were making to improve the capacity of the
service’s personnel in document fraud detection.
National security
The Comptroller-General of Immigration, Mr Kwame Asuah Takyi, said the centre
was in a strong relationship with almost all embassies of the European Union
countries in Ghana and working closely with all immigration liaison officers
and police attaches in the embassies.
He said the centre was also contributing immensely to the judicial processes in
the country as it served on occasions as prosecution witness in the courts.
In addition, he said, the DFEC was contributing to the global fight against
terrorism, money laundering, human and drug trafficking and transnational
crimes.
“It conducts investigations and analyses passports, visas, marriage and births
and deaths certificates as well as resident permits and identity cards,” he
said.
He expressed his gratitude to the German government and German police service
for contributing to improving Ghana’s security, adding that the new facility
would boost the capability of the centre to conduct further training for all
concerned.
The German Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Christopher Retzlaff, said the German
Federal Police funding of the new DFEC building was an example of the close
cooperation Germany had with Ghana.
He said the German government was committed to strengthening security
structures in Ghana and the West Africa subregion in the fight against
transnational, organised and cross-border crimes.
He said considering that security was a principal necessity for every nation,
there was the need for governments to invest in it.