9 January 2009
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INTERPOL European Regional Conference opens in Bulgaria
For the first time in the organization’s history, each of the 49 countries in the European region will be represented at the three-day meeting in Varna, Bulgaria, bringing together more than 150 senior police officers, law enforcement officials and security experts. High on the agenda will be the provision of direct access to INTERPOL’s Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database to law enforcement at airports, seaports, land border entry points and other field locations. Key issues to be discussed by delegates include improving the exchange of police information within the region, high-tech crime and trafficking in human beings. ‘The political structure of Europe is constantly evolving, but the challenges facing law enforcement remain the same,’ said INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble. ‘INTERPOL’s tools to enhance global security, such as our SLTD database, can only be fully effective when made available to all police officers everywhere, and our National Central Bureaus have a key role to play in ensuring that this happens. ‘Our database is essential not only in preventing terrorists and other dangerous criminals from travelling freely, but also in helping law enforcement to identify activities such as drug trafficking and people smuggling.’ In January of this year, a group of 11 people travelling on Cypriot and Polish passports was stopped by a border officer in Mexico after he became suspicious of the reason for their visit. It was then discovered that the group, which had arrived via Turkey, Greece and Spain, were actually Iraqis, eight of whom were fraudulently using passports which were part of a batch of 850 blank passports registered in INTERPOL’s SLTD database as being stolen in Cyprus in 2003. The need for effective communication and co-operation to fight transnational crime was highlighted by Bulgaria’s Deputy Minister of the Interior Rumen Andreev. ‘A multilateral approach integrating international partners is essential to respond to the threat of international crime. No country or region should be excluded in this process.’ INTERPOL is the world’s largest police organization, with 186 member countries on five continents. Officers from nearly 80 countries now work side-by-side at INTERPOL’s headquarters in Lyon, France, and in its regional bureaus around the world. INTERPOL’s secure global police communications system I-24/7 allows police in all member countries to access crucial data or exchange messages instantly as they investigate cross-border crime or seek the arrest of international fugitives.
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