(CYPRUS) UK Border Force agents have run joint training with Cypriot immigration and customs officers to strengthen frontline responses to modern slavery and human trafficking, aiming to protect vulnerable people and disrupt exploitation networks along one of the eastern Mediterranean’s most exposed routes. The latest round of sessions in November 2025 brought together officers from the British Bases and Cyprus, alongside representatives from British missions in Nicosia and Athens, in a push to turn policy into practical action where officers first meet victims and suspected traffickers.
Organisers said the training focused on spotting trafficking indicators at the border, understanding UK and international legal frameworks, using victim-centered approaches that put welfare first, and building the habits of cross-agency cooperation required to join up intelligence and interventions across different services. The stated purpose is to help local teams identify and support victims more consistently and to strengthen partnerships that can dismantle exploitation networks operating across jurisdictions, including those that exploit border vulnerabilities linked to proximity to the north.
Charlotte Wright, a customs and immigration officer at Akrotiri, called the sessions
“absolutely critical,”
adding: “Equipping our officers to identify and support those at risk is fundamental to effective safeguarding.” Her comments captured the practical focus of the programme, which prioritised the steps officers can take from first encounter through referral, and how coordination at the border can shape outcomes for people coerced into labour or sexual exploitation.
UK trainers said results would depend on sustained partnerships as much as classroom learning. Amanda Read, the UK SAMS lead, said:
“Enhanced safeguarding measures and stronger partnerships [are] delivering real, lasting change. The commitment to protecting vulnerable individuals and dismantling exploitation networks is clearer than ever.”
The emphasis on cross-agency cooperation reflects a wider UK strategy that positions Border Force officers as first responders at the frontier and asks them to refer cases into the United Kingdom’s National Referral Mechanism guidance, the official process for assessing and supporting potential victims. Guidance for frontline professionals is set out in the government’s National Referral Mechanism guidance.
Cyprus police said joint sessions with British colleagues have become an important part of their approach.
“The Cyprus police value initiatives like this course. Training alongside SBA customs and immigration strengthens our partnership, vital for tackling this deeply problematic issue. We look forward to continuing this cooperation,”
said Floris Nikandrou, speaking for the force as it moves to tighten procedures for identifying and assisting people at risk.
The training forms part of the UK Border Force’s National Safeguarding and Modern Slavery (SAMS) programme, which is built to give officers practical skills in victim identification and support, rather than relying on theoretical instruction. UK officials described the Cyprus sessions as the latest in a series that previously ran in 2020 and 2022, underlining a pattern of collaboration intended to keep skills current and adapt to changing routes and tactics used by trafficking networks. Trainers said the agenda in November 2025 blended legal updates with scenario-based exercises, including how to interpret red flags during document checks, interview techniques that reduce trauma, and ways to escalate concerns quickly when evidence points to exploitation.
The timing of the push matches rising referrals within the UK system itself. Referrals of potential modern slavery victims to the Home Office have hit record highs, according to recent figures. In 2023, authorities received 16,985 referrals. In 2024, the total rose to 19,119, a 13% increase. By June 2025, 10,985 referrals had already been made. While the figures reflect activity inside the United Kingdom rather than Cyprus, trainers cited the trend to show how frontline awareness and reporting can expand the pipeline of victims entering support, especially when border teams use consistent standards and language across agencies.
The UK experience also shows how training can sharpen practice beyond ports and airports. In the South West, Devon and Cornwall Police trained 200 officers to recognise signs of modern slavery and to conduct interviews that make space for victims to disclose exploitation safely. In Essex, after a dedicated session for 100 police team members, trainers reported that 100% of participants indicated improved ability to identify and assist potential victims, and more than three-quarters said they had changed a relevant aspect of their practice. A safeguarding lead in Chelmsford summed up the impact in blunt terms:
“I think this training has changed my life! If I had had that information a couple of years ago it would have made a world of a difference to the victim I was working with.”
Those outcomes were cited by UK Border Force staff in Cyprus as evidence that detailed, scenario-based instruction can shift how officers make judgments in pressured settings. That matters at the border, they said, where a conversation can be the difference between a person being treated as an immigration offender and being recognised as a victim of human trafficking. Officers were encouraged to look for consistent indicators, such as lack of control over documents, scripted answers, debt bondage hints, and the presence of handlers, and to treat uncertainty as a reason to safeguard first and investigate later, in line with a victim-centered approach.
The sessions also covered how UK and international law intersect, and the importance of clear referral routes. Trainers walked through the practical steps from initial concern to referral to the National Referral Mechanism, and how to capture information that can support investigations without placing additional burdens on traumatised individuals. Organisers said sustained cross-agency cooperation is essential to track patterns across ports, airports and land crossings, especially in a region where smugglers and traffickers test borders constantly and adapt to seasonal enforcement.
While officials hailed the collaborative approach, they acknowledged persistent challenges. Past inspections found that some specialist officers had not received updated training and that e-learning packages were sometimes completed as a “tick box” exercise rather than providing hands-on skills that help officers in real encounters. The Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner has warned that courses must be regularly updated and tailored to frontline realities, pressing for practical advice that prioritises victim-centered approaches. Trainers in Cyprus said these lessons informed the design of the November 2025 programme, which leaned heavily on interactive casework and step-by-step role play rather than slides alone.
Another obstacle is intelligence sharing between agencies. Calls for improved data collection and coordination continue, with practitioners arguing that fragmented systems make it harder to connect cases across jurisdictions and to spot trafficking networks operating through multiple locations. In the Cyprus sessions, organisers urged participants to feed insights quickly into shared channels, and they highlighted how aligned reporting standards can reduce drop-off when cases move from border checks to police investigations and on to social services.
Participants from the British missions in Nicosia and Athens joined sessions on legal frameworks and international cooperation, reflecting the diplomatic dimension of tackling trafficking that does not respect borders. Trainers said that, in practical terms, this meant agreeing on basic questions: who takes the lead when suspicion arises, how referrals move across agencies, which unit holds responsibility for safeguarding, and what information can be passed lawfully and quickly. They also discussed the operational reality of mixed flows, where immigration offences, labour exploitation, and human trafficking can overlap, and where a single case might trigger both criminal investigations and welfare interventions.
For local officers, the training reinforced a set of priorities that have become standard in UK practice: treat potential victims first as individuals in need of safeguarding; act quickly to separate them from handlers; avoid actions that might expose them to further harm; and ensure that every officer understands referral pathways. Cyprus police representatives said the opportunity to drill these steps with UK colleagues, and with customs and immigration staff from the British Bases, helped align language and expectations that can otherwise vary by agency. “Training alongside SBA customs and immigration strengthens our partnership, vital for tackling this deeply problematic issue,” Nikandrou said, adding that the force expects the cooperation to continue.
UK trainers pointed to previous joint work in 2020 and 2022 as proof that repeated sessions can embed habits over time, particularly when teams change and when traffickers adjust tactics. They said the SAMS curriculum is designed to move with those shifts, updating scenarios as new patterns emerge, such as changes in recruitment approaches or control methods used by exploiters. The inclusion of representatives from British missions was highlighted as a way to ensure that guidance remains aligned with international law and that officers understand the limits of their powers, especially in cross-border situations.
The rising UK referral figures were presented as a marker of both growing need and growing awareness. Trainers said that officers should not be discouraged by increases, arguing that more referrals indicate that frontline staff are better at spotting modern slavery and human trafficking and at moving cases into formal support. They cautioned, however, that numbers alone do not measure the quality of outcomes, and that agencies must keep testing whether victims receive appropriate protection and whether investigations reach the organisers behind exploitation networks rather than just the lower-level handlers.
Wright’s description of the sessions as
“absolutely critical”
dovetailed with a broader message: the first minutes of an encounter can shape a case. For officers at Akrotiri and across the British Bases, that can mean pushing beyond routine document checks to read the signs of coercion and control. Trainers said the aim is to ensure that a person’s story does not end at a checkpoint but continues through a process that weighs risk properly, documents evidence carefully, and links victims to services without delay. “Equipping our officers to identify and support those at risk is fundamental to effective safeguarding,” Wright said, echoing the core of the SAMS approach.
Amanda Read’s assessment added a note of momentum.
“Enhanced safeguarding measures and stronger partnerships [are] delivering real, lasting change. The commitment to protecting vulnerable individuals and dismantling exploitation networks is clearer than ever.”
That optimism was tempered by reminders of what remains to be fixed—uneven training coverage in earlier years, the temptation to treat online modules as box-ticking, and the stubborn gaps in intelligence sharing that can break the chain between identification and prosecution. Trainers and local officers said the Cyprus sessions took those critiques seriously, baking in practical drills and clear lines of responsibility.
The Chelmsford safeguarding lead’s reaction to parallel training in England—
“I think this training has changed my life! If I had had that information a couple of years ago it would have made a world of difference to the victim I was working with.”
—served as a stark illustration of what practical learning can mean for a single case. Organisers in Cyprus leaned on these examples to argue that method matters: the same laws and policies can produce different results depending on whether officers have rehearsed the real-world steps, and whether agencies coordinate consistently when cases cross borders and departments.
As the November 2025 series concluded, UK Border Force staff framed the Cyprus work as one part of a continual effort across the 🇬🇧 and the island to raise standards in safeguarding, expand the pool of officers confident in identifying victims, and tighten the net on trafficking networks. The plan, participants said, is to keep sessions running and to measure impact using the kinds of indicators seen in Essex and the South West—self-assessed confidence, changes in practice, and ultimately the quality of referrals and outcomes. The organisers’ message was clear: modern slavery and human trafficking demand constant attention at the frontline, and only persistent cross-agency cooperation—between border staff, police, customs, and diplomatic missions—can match a threat that shifts shape from one checkpoint to the next.
This Article in a Nutshell
In November 2025 UK Border Force delivered SAMS training in Cyprus with local immigration, customs and British mission staff to improve frontline identification and support for victims of modern slavery. Sessions combined legal updates, scenario-based exercises and victim-centered referral practices into the National Referral Mechanism. Trainers referenced prior courses in 2020 and 2022 and rising UK referrals—19,119 in 2024 and 10,985 by June 2025—to stress the need for sustained cross-agency cooperation, practical drills and improved intelligence sharing to disrupt trafficking networks.
