Intissar Fakir
Director of the North Africa and Sahel program at the Middle East Institute
Regional Counter-Trafficking Advisor, Wildlife Conservation Society
Christian Plowman retired from the Metropolitan Police, Specialist Crime Directorate, New Scotland Yard in 2011 as a detective with an exemplary 16 years’ service.
An experienced and diligent investigator and acknowledged intelligence specialist, Christian has since spent his time in international wildlife trafficking enforcement, working in intelligence gathering and investigative roles across the majority of countries in Eastern and Francophone Africa, targeting illicit trade, organized criminality and the trafficking of illegal wildlife products. This included a period as INTERPOLs Criminal Intelligence Officer for Eastern Africa combating environmental organized crime. As an NGO consultant, Christian has operated in a wide range of countries across Africa and beyond, from the isolated forests of Cameroon to the steppe of Kazakhstan.
Christian is currently focusing on transnational intelligence gathering projects supporting enforcement activity in South East Asia and central Africa as the regional Counter-Trafficking Coordinator for the Wildlife Conservation Society. He is a leader in developing and delivering training and mentoring in essential policing skills, and specialist law enforcement methods in Madagascar, Zambia, Niger and Congo, and has delivered his bespoke COPS (Conservation Oriented Policing Skills) program to over 800 law enforcement officers since 2016.
Christian works closely with local and national police and intelligence services, including US Fish and Wildlife Service, INTERPOL, National Crime Agency and UK government departments. Christian is a regular guest lecturer at universities in covert policing and counter-trafficking. He has co-authored several academic papers on counter-wildlife trafficking and contributed to globally respected publications.