The INTERPOL President Mr Khoo Boon Hui says while globalization stimulates economic development, it also opens doors for highly sophisticated and organized criminal syndicates that continue to pursue a complex web of lucrative activities.
Speaking during the 21st INTERPOL African Regional Conference held at the Gaborone International Conference Centre recently, Mr Boon Hui said as law enforcement agencies, global police services are constantly confronted with complex crimes that transcend national borders. He said drug traffickers exploit less robust border control points to diversify and establish new trans-shipment points.
Mr Hui said each day law enforcement agencies are facing the challenge of transnational criminal groups, expanding their theatre and scope of operations and becoming more internationalised and sophisticated, perpetuating more complex crimes such as cyber fraud. He said terrorist organizations exploit modern information and communication technology to recruit and train would-be terrorist operatives in order to further their sinister agendas.
According to Mr Hui, all these new security challenges have put the traditional law enforcement methods under scrutiny and provided the impetus for greater and more effective operational cooperation between national and international law enforcement agencies.
He said developing a strong and united front is critical to fighting crime successfully. Mr Khoo Boon Hui said his country is firmly committed to helping enhance the capability and value adds of the organization, INTERPOL by offering to host the INTERPOL Global Complex (IGC). He said that he was grateful that all African brothers supported the resolution in relation to the IGC at the 79th INTERPOL General Assembly in Doha, as evidenced by unanimous vote.
The INTERPOL President said advance developments in information and communication technology enable the world to be connected. He said in 2003, INTERPOL launched the I-24/7 secure global communications system that connects law enforcement officials in all of its 188 member countries and provides them with the means to share crucial information on criminals and criminal activities 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The I-24/7 system also enables the police officers to gain access to different INTERPOL tools and services and the system should be expanded the National Central Bureaus (NCBs) to frontline police officers, to border control points and to specialized crime investigators. He said that they must strive for law enforcement across the region and beyond to quickly and securely exchange information and access global database and this be the first step towards a united front against crime
He said there is a need to look at the new crime challenges from global, regional and international perspective, saying critical to the success of the endeavour are the National Central Bureaus (NCBs) and Regional Bureaus (RBs). The NCBs serve as the gateways of police information and the vital contract points for all INTERPOL activities in each member country while the RBs bring INTERPOL activities closer to the regions. In Africa there are four (4) of the six (6) INTERPOL Regional Bureaus (RBs) in Abidjan, Harare, Nairobi, and in Yaounde which provide INTERPOL with a full coverage of the entire African continent. These Regional Bureaus (RBs) are working very closely with the different African Regional Police Chiefs Committees to define the best possible strategy for the region.
Mr Khoo Boon Hui urged on making these Regional Bureaus and National Central Bureaus the leading instruments in facilitating police cooperation.