'Share info with partners'
Police forces of the 190 Interpol member countries need to share knowledge and experience with each other because terrorists are now connected across borders, said Interpol Secretary General Jurgen Stock yesterday.
“We are facing global activities of international terrorists groups being connected with each other, and we see organised crime groups are developing multi-billion [sic] criminal industries by exploiting the desperation of people who want to go to other countries to find a better life,” he said at the inauguration of a conference of top police officials from different countries in the capital.
Hence, the impact of the work of a police officer in today's world goes beyond national jurisdiction, he said, adding that timely sharing of information could save lives.
“Let me highlight that we are facing an unprecedented level of global threats. The security situations all around the globe has never been so complex and so international as we can see it right now regarding international terrorism, organised and emerging crimes and cyber crimes,” he said at the event organised by Interpol and Bangladesh Police.
Top level police officials from 14 South Asian and neighbouring countries are taking part in the three-day event titled “Chiefs of Police Conference on Regional Cooperation in Curbing Violent Extremism and Transnational Crime”.
Addressing the inauguration at the Sonargaon hotel yesterday morning, the Interpol official said, “Another unprecedented threat is cyber crime, which is borderless by nature. It requires all the countries around the globe to stand together and find a common strategy in fighting this kind of crime.”
He also underscored the importance of training officials for developing their capacity and technological means to exchange information and successfully fight the phenomenon of international crimes.
He said of the support provided by Interpol in member countries, “the most important [task] today is building a strong network in policing against the network of terrorism, against the network of organised crime and against the cyber network”.
He explained Interpol's global alert system. “[It's] a system of notices where we support the members countries in international fugitives operation. All the requests from member countries go through a complex set of legal review, to make sure the notices are compliant with the Interpol rules and regulations.
“For instance, we stay away from any activity if there is a political component and that is the reason for Interpol not taking any action [in some cases].”
He congratulated Bangladesh Police for successfully dismantling terrorist networks in the country.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) AKM Shahidul Hoque stated that militants use social media to spread propaganda.
He said, “As the social media is playing a vital role, we invited the authorities of Facebook to have a bilateral meeting, where we will discuss how we can get its cooperation to curb the spread of propaganda in social media.”
He also said the issues of bringing back militants hiding in other countries and cross-border crimes, like arms and drug trafficking, would also be discussed in the conference.
Cyber crime, money laundering, counterfeiting of currencies, and terror financing were new threats, besides terrorism, for all nations, said the Bangladesh police chief.
“ … in our ongoing fight against violent extremism, we have got all-out support and cooperation from India, Singapore, Australia, Canada, the Interpol and the FBI. Our special thanks are for India as they always spontaneously cooperate with us in every way by sharing real-time information, exchanging expertise, providing training and other support,” he added.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan officially inaugurated the conference where representatives of law enforcers from Afghanistan, Australia, Bhutan, Brunei, China, India, Indonesia, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam are participating.
“Fighting terrorism is not the sole responsibility of the government. So we work in partnership with religious scholars to discourage faith-based radicalisation and urge community leaders to guide young people towards more constructive beliefs and ideas,” the minister said.
“Today our responsibility is not only to ensure the security of our own country but also of neighbouring countries,” he said.
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