Asian police coordinate to combat drug trade
Law enforcement officials from 18 Asian countries are gathering in Ho Chi Minh City for a three-week training program to strengthen regional efforts to dismantle drug trafficking syndicates.
The Asia Region Law Enforcement Management Program, which began at RMIT University in HCMC on Tuesday, aims to build police cooperation to address cross-border crimes, with focuses on illicit drug trafficking and money laundering.
In the past ten years, more than 700 police and law enforcement officials from 25 countries, including 200 from Vietnam, have participated in the program concentrating on topics such as drug trafficking, money laundering, cyber-crime, terrorism and human trafficking.
“We can no longer expect that individual efforts will be successful in combating transnational crime,” Australian Consul General John McAnulty told the opening ceremony.
“Only through the establishment and maintenance of mutually beneficial partnerships, built on high levels of cooperation, collaboration and communication can we realistically challenge those that engage in crime and harm our societies,” he said.
Senior Colonel Nguyen Hien Dung, a representative of Vietnam’s General Police Department, echoed McAnulty’s viewpoint.
“To prevent and combat the illicit drug trafficking and money laundering effectively requires close cooperation between all countries’ law enforcement agencies especially in criminal information sharing, detection, investigation and prosecution,” Dung said.
The program’s graduates are achieving success in the international law enforcement field, the Australian Consulate-General said in a statement.
“Many have been appointed to international roles as Police Liaison Officers with the United Nations and other leading international taskforce teams addressing transnational crime,” it said.