Six officers of the Antigua and Barbuda Customs and Excise Department have marked a key professional milestone by successfully finishing the 2026 Caribbean Customs Law Enforcement Council Junior Officer Online Training Course. The graduates who completed the rigorous program are Davier Joseph, Renisha Charles, Takisha Joseph-Shadrach, Maranda Williams, Pauline Mack and Jahvene Charles.
Officials from the department confirmed that the region-wide training initiative covered a comprehensive suite of core competencies critical to modern customs operations. Core modules included foundational and advanced topics ranging from standardized customs procedures and international trade legislation to targeted risk assessment, cargo valuation, cross-border trade frameworks, professional ethics and integrity, enforcement tactics, and strategic border protection.
The program was specifically designed to address growing regional security needs by boosting the technical knowledge and on-the-job professional capabilities of junior customs personnel, equipping them to more effectively carry out their core duties of customs regulation and border security. In an official statement congratulating the six graduating officers, the Antigua and Barbuda Customs and Excise Department highlighted the participants’ consistent dedication, strict discipline, and ongoing commitment to growing their professional skills.
“Their achievement strengthens our collective capacity to Secure and Serve with excellence,” the department noted in its statement.
This capacity-building training arrives at a moment when customs agencies across the Caribbean are ramping up coordinated efforts to reinforce their enforcement and border security infrastructure. In recent years, regional cooperation frameworks have increasingly prioritized targeted capacity building, improved cross-agency risk management, enhanced intelligence sharing, and coordinated action to crack down on all forms of illicit trafficking across shared borders. The Antigua and Barbuda Customs and Excise Department operates under the nation’s Ministry of Finance and Corporate Governance, with a core mandate to oversee all national customs administration functions.