Coast Guard personnel of overseas countries receive special training from Navy

The certificate awarding ceremony of the Visit Board Search and Seizure (VBSS) Course held for the Coast Guard personnel of Bangladesh, Maldives and Sri Lanka was held at the auditorium of Special Boat Squadron (SBS) HQ in Naval Dockyard, Trincomalee on 30th August 2019.

Commander Eastern Naval Area, Rear Admiral Merril Wickramasinghe attended the closing ceremony, as the Chief Guest. The course had been organized for a group of 20 Coast Guard personnel. Among them were; 08 from Bangladesh, 07 from Maldives and 01 officer as well as 07 sailors from the Sri Lanka Coast Guard.

The two-week-long VBSS course was conducted by SLN resource persons and instructors of the Special Boat Squadron and it mainly focused on maritime law enforcement operations on compliant boarding scenarios followed by ship security techniques, drug transferring methods and identifications, tactical combat casualty care etc.

After the closing ceremony, the trainees performed a skill display to demonstrate how maritime law enforcement operational duties are carried out at sea. The occasion was attended by senior officers attached to the Eastern Naval Command, maritime law enforcement mentors from Japanese Coast Guard and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Programme, Commanding Officer of SBS and a group of officers.