Agents and officers of local law enforcement agencies have conducted a two-day special joint exercise whereby they intensified ship boarding, coastal patrols, airport luggage and body searches with emphasis made on trans-border criminal activities like human trafficking, drug smuggling, vehicle thefts, contrabands, wildlife related crimes at all points of entry as well as on the roads.

Dubbed USALAMA the exercise is the fourth of its kind and is done annually and was conducted here on Wednesday and Thursday at the same time as it was being carried out in other countries of the region which are members of the Eastern Africa Police Chiefs Cooperation Organisation (EAPCCO) like Seychelles.

One hundred and nine police officers of various ranks have been promoted.

The promotion ceremony took place at the Seychelles Police Academy last Friday in the presence of Designated Minister Macsuzy Mondon, who also holds the portfolio for Home Affairs under which the police falls.

During the ceremony 42 constables were promoted to the rank of corporal; 32 corporals were promoted to sergeants while 17 sergeants received the rank of sub-inspectors.

Ten sub-inspectors were promoted to inspectors; 5 inspectors to assistant superintendents and 2 assistant superintendents to superintendents.

The highlight was the promotion of one superintendent, Francois Freminot, to chief superintendent.

He will now take over the overall commander role of the CID, replacing one of the foreign officers, Christaan Marx, whose contract has just ended. Mr Marx has been mentoring Mr Freminot for about 2 and a half years now.

In his speech at the ceremony, the Commissioner of Police (ComPol) Reginald Elizabeth noted that the Police Force has a selection panel in place to consider promotion which is based on recommendation from respective Commanders and also on availability of budget.