Workshop on detection of fraudulent documents underway in Denu

A five-day workshop on forgery and fraudulent documents detection for 250 personnel of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) from Akanu and Aflao began at Denu on Monday. Resource persons are from the British High Commission and Canadian High Commissions and the Dutch and Spanish Embassies. The knowledge of participants are to be improved on security features such as dry and wet seals, optical security, laminates, latent image and intaglio print in passports, visa and resident permit documents to enable personnel to detect fake ones. Mr Mathias Homey, Assistant Director of Immigrations in charge of the Aflao sector said the workshop was important in improving the skills of personnel since criminals were becoming more sophisticated. The GIS, he said, planned to retrain 40 percent of personnel in document fraud and intelligence to enhance performance. Mr Homey said personnel in Accra and Tamale sectors had benefited from the workshop while those at Elubo, Sunyani and Wa would be covered by the end of the year. Miss Sarah Pownall, from the British High Commission, said it was important that those manning the country's ports were also fine-tuned in document fraud detection to totally block criminals from having their way.