Bjorn Roberts Australian Border Force

Commander Bjorn Roberts has worked for Australia’s Customs administration, the Australian Border Force, since 1990. Commander Roberts has worked in over 30 countries and across all states of Australia in enforcement roles at air and sea ports, plus in the fields of criminal investigations, intelligence, targeting and offshore disruption.  Over the course of his career, the Commander’s specialty has been in the fields of combatting transnational crime’s ability to move contraband and people across international borders.  In 2021 Commander Roberts established and ran Australian Border Force’s Operation JARDENA, which sought to identify and disrupt criminal infiltration in the international border system, including at airports and sea ports and within the industries that connect those points.  ABF Operation JARDENA led the Commander to join up with the WCO at a time when the WCO was very focused on building stronger, collaborative partnerships with industry.  Commander Roberts was instrumental in the WCO’s coordination of global operation TIN CAN, which saw WCO members and industry work together to seize almost 100 tonnes of cocaine over a 6 week period. Commander Roberts is here to discuss some of the ways in which the Australian Border Force is embracing innovation with traditional and new partners, in the maritime sector.