Force chairs INTERPOL meeting on organised crime
The INTERPOL General Secretariat held the 12th Meeting of INTERPOL Asia-Pacific Expert Group on Organised Crime at Police Headquarters in conjunction with the Force on December 13 and 14.
Attracting 34 crime investigators from 13 member jurisdictions in the Asia-Pacific region, namely Bangladesh, Brunei, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Macao, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong, the two-day meeting aimed at bringing together senior crime investigators and intelligence professionals to discuss current and future threats and challenges associated with organised crime at a high profile international level.
Also attending the meeting were seven observers from Canada, Denmark, France, Sweden and the USA, as well as representatives from the INTERPOL's Trafficking in Human Beings sub-directorate and INTERPOL LOBANG.
Assistant Commissioner (Crime) Lo Mung-hung officiated at the opening of the meeting while Chief Superintendent Kwok Ho-fai of the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau chaired the meeting after the Force was re-elected to hold chairmanship for another two years.
The meeting evaluated the outcome of Operation SOGA, a joint operation against cross-border illegal gambling conducted during the European Championship between last June and July, and agreed that the operation was of paramount importance for combatting illegal football gambling.
Meanwhile, the representatives presented the updated situations of organised crime in their regions as well as their enforcement tactics, besides sharing useful intelligence. The meeting also saw discussion of a wide range of prevailing transnational crimes, including triad activities, human smuggling, illegal gambling, Internet deception, telephone fraud and terrorism. Theft from hand luggage on board air flights was also discussed for the first time.
The INTERPOL General Secretariat initiated the Meeting of INTERPOL Asia-Pacific Expert Group on Organised Crime in 2006 to provide an international working platform for law enforcement agencies to fight organised crimes in the Asia-Pacific region by boosting co-operation among member jurisdictions, providing operational support and enhancing the capability of law enforcement officers in investigating cross-border organised crime. The Force has been participating in, and chairing, the meeting since establishment of the Expert Group.
The meeting provides a
good platform for crime investigators to discuss threats and challenges