Twenty-six participants from 14 member countries attended the annual Pollution Crimes Working Group meeting. Interpol’s Executive Director of Police Services Jean-Michel Louboutin, officially opening the meeting, stressed the importance of combating environmental crime and highlighted the accomplishments of the Pollution Crimes Working Group. He also vowed Interpol’s continued support of the working group and the Environmental Crimes Committee.

Interpol has formed a specialised sub-group to examine the possible links between environmental crimes and other types of organized criminal activity. The group reached a consensus on a working definition of organized crime and presented its first-phase report, which concluded that links between organized crime and environmental crime have been established. The working group discussed the future direction of the project for the second phase.

Several presentations and discussions were held in relation to Project Clean Seas, primarily focusing on oil pollution from vessels. The means and methods of detecting this type of crime as well as recent cases were presented. Copies of a draft investigative manual for oil discharges from vessels circulated to the group were well-received. The final edition will be bound and published in Interpol’s four official languages.

The Pollution Crimes Working Group has repeatedly recognised the need to raise penalties for environmental crimes so that they at least outweigh the profits from committing these serious offences. The results of several questionnaires sent out by the working group were presented, and there were discussions about distributing them to a wider audience.

The group also identified the need for a memorandum to aid prosecutors in advocating for more appropriate sentences in environmental offences. The group will continue to work on finalising this document.

There was a consensus that the Eco-Message is a useful way to alert member countries of environmental crimes. It was also agreed that reminders about this system should be sent out yearly to potential users.

Several of the participants provided national and regional reports.