Law enforcement cooperation

The value of collecting and processing the criminal intelligence can be developed by analysis and sharing. Therefore, analytical support, coordination and regional cooperation are identified to be cross-cutting issues in the field of law enforcement. Considering these facts, the Central Asian Regional Information and Coordination Centre (CARICC) was established in order to facilitate collection, collation, analysis and sharing of drug related information and assist in coordination of the multilateral counter-narcotic operations. Linked increasingly to intra and inter regional networks, CARICC has the potential to assist Member States address many of the elements associated with Transnational Crimes, especially the trafficking of narcotics and potentially the exchange of financial and electronic data related to Anti Money Laundering (AML), Asset Recovery, Cybercrime and the financing of terrorism. At present, CARICC is coordinating joint operations of law enforcement agencies of each Member State such as police, customs, national security services, drug control agencies and border guards. However, there is potential to increase both at quantitative and qualitative levels, assistance rendered by CARICC to Member States.

With the manifestation of new crime threats, particularly New Psychotropic Substances (NPS) and rise of violent extremism the need for an umbrella institute that can provide incisive analysis of trends along with specific actionable intelligence remains a priority.

Furthermore, CARICC assists in progressing issues of mutual legal assistance and extradition between Member States and others through informal exchange of information, building confidence and trust among various law enforcement agencies, through joint training, meetings and operations that can provide the impetus to speed up the process of mutual legal assistance and extradition requests.

This has been exemplified by close collaborative work between Asia Pacific Information Coordination Centre (APICC) and CARICC following signing of an MOU with MOU's under consideration between CARICC and other respective partners such as Joint Planning Cell (JPC), South European Law Enforcement Centre (SELEC) and Gulf Cooperation Council Criminal Intelligence Coordination Centre for Combatting of Drugs (GCCCICC-CD).

CARICC remains at an evolutionary process to achieve its maximum potential and it is imperative that collective efforts of the international community continue to lend necessary support to allow this for furtherance of mutual   interest and discharge of shared responsibility in tackling common international crime threats.