The Marine Police Unit yesterday reached another milestone with the handing over and commissioning of two specialised boats donated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and with main sponsors the Japanese government.

The boats –made of H/D UV resistant material and equipped with trailers to offload, VHF radio, VHF marine antenna, marine compasses, GPS/echo-sounder, among others – were handed over to the Marine Police Unit by the Minister for Home Affairs Charles Bastienne and deputy Ambassador of Japan to Seychelles, Mikio Mori.

The hand-over ceremony took place at the ex-Seychelles Coast Guard jetty on Bois de Rose Avenue.

Built in Sri Lanka, the boats were funded through the Trust Fund Contact Group and in particular the government of Japan which donated through the Trust Fund.

Also present at the ceremony were the Programme Officer for Maritime Crime of Indian Ocean (UNODC) Shanaka Jayasekara, high officials of the Seychelles Police Force, UNODC and the Japanese government.

It was the Commissioner of Police Ernest Quatre and Mr Jayasekara who officially signed the hand-over documents.

Over two dozen station commanders and leaders from different units in the police force have completed a management and leadership performance training programme.

The training programme, which started earlier this year at the Guy Morel Institute at Ma Joie, has come to a close and in a short ceremony at the institute on Tuesday afternoon the group shared their experience and heard testimonies of the few months spent on the programme.

Home Affairs Minister Charles Bastienne, the Commissioner of Police Ernest Quatre, the Dean of the Guy Morel Institute Shella Mohideen, as well as the different lecturers were present to share in the officers’ achievements.

“Revamping our police force to meet our society’s actual and future  needs is a gradual process which demands good planning,” Mr Quatre pointed out, noting that changes carried out so far are proving to be worthy and are yielding good results.