Colombia police will join in Pacific-wide efforts to crack down on drug trafficking to Australia.
A new joint investigations squad will be created and based in Bogota, Colombia, to target the trade at its source; it will involve officers from Australia, New Zealand and the Island nations as well.
The announcement was made at the inaugural Pacific Transnational Crime Summit just held in Fiji in a communique released by Fiji Police Force Commissioner (FPF) Rusiate Tudravu and Australian Federal Police (AFP) counterpart Krissy Barrett.
Commissioner Barrett say the region’s growing drugs threat is largely chiefly fuelled by the Australian market for them.
“Pacific Island police chiefs watched from afar the impacts of illicit drugs on Australia and now they fear the diabolical reality facing their communities,” she says.
“As heads of Pacific police, we need to target the cartels and organised criminals who are trafficking the poison affecting our communities and our kids.
“Our communities are relying on our collective action to keep them safe.”
SCALING UP POLICE ACTION
Commissioner Tudravu says the summit reinforces the importance of collaboration and building a regional approach to it.
“We cannot afford to allow the summit to be just another meeting,” he says.
“Our people demand action; we vow to reflect this through enhanced collaboration, sending a strong collective warning that the Pacific is fighting back.”
(Already, 12 Kiribati officers are learning to detect drugs hidden underwater by Australian police and French military in Tahiti; click here for our story.)
Comm. Tudravu says the scale of transnational crime requires co-operation between regional, and global, law enforcement.
“This was evident throughout the summit,” he says.
“With the backing of our police ministers, the onus is on us as police chiefs to ensure tangible outcomes that can be felt throughout our communities.”
A Pacific Watch website is to be set up to allow for anonymous reports of crime while the finance sector will be beefed up and a Pacific maritime interception service set up to co-ordinate intelligence sharing and physical interceptions of shipments.
CANBERRA’S CONCERN
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong told ABC Adelaide that trans-Pacific crime is a growing concern for Canberra.
“That’s been a big focus of our discussions,” she says of Canberra’s talks with Pacific Island nations.
“Transnational crime, particularly (drugs) trafficking … through the region, has dramatically increased,” she says.
“We are looking at what more we can do together. We already do a lot together and that’s in all of our interests. It’s in the interest of the countries of the region.
“It’s also in Australia’s interest because much of that is destined for Australia,” Wong says.
