14th August 2016 - Cairo, Egypt
Egypt has been combating increased transnational organized crime illicit trafficking of drugs, persons, goods and weapons, especially since 2011. Some border areas are particularly vulnerable due to the neighbor's lack of internal security, where organized criminal and terrorist groups are operating with relative impunity, Egypt is nevertheless working to secure its borders and curb illicit flows.
UNODC Regional Office for the Middle East & North Africa, based in Cairo, in close partnership with the Egyptian Ministry of Interior organized its first of a series of basic and advanced trainings for law enforcement officers on Crime Intelligence Analysis. The purpose of these trainings is to help law enforcement analyze risk factors and profile movements of people and goods to more effectively identify illicit trafficking. The training offers specialized investigation techniques, and best practices in inter-agency as well as international law enforcement cooperation.
The first three-day training was held in Cairo, Egypt 14-16 August, and was attended by over 20 frontline Egyptian law enforcement officers from multiple Security Directorates from Egyptian border governorates.
The training was opened by UNODC Regional Representative for the Middle East and North Africa, Masood Karimipour, the representative of the Egyptian Ministry of Interior - Department of International Cooperation and Mr. Kaoru Magosaki, Counselor of the Economic Section at the Embassy of Japan in Cairo.
Addressing the participants, Mr. Karimipour, highlighted criminal and terrorist networks' ability to adapt, change and use modern tools to move illicit goods, weapons, persons, and dirty money across borders. He emphasized the need for law enforcement agencies to also adapt, use intelligence-led analysis, new methods and tools to identify, investigate and bring to justice criminals and terrorists. He advocated for greater cross-border and regional cooperation among countries to combat these shared threats.
Experts from Interpol presented variety of tools & platforms and demonstrated concrete examples of success through international cooperation. A comprehensive examination of crime intelligence analysis methods, tactics and logistics followed, including related terrorism case studies.
This training falls under UNODC project "Countering Illicit Trafficking Going through Egyptian Borders ", funded by Japan, which supports the sharing and application of international best practices in combating trafficking. UNODC Executive Director, Mr. Yuri Fedotov and Interpol Secretary General, Juergen Stock, recently signed a cooperation agreement for a strategic partnership against organized crime and terrorism.
UNODC will deliver follow on and advanced training for frontline law enforcement agencies to further enhance their capacity to detect illicit trafficking.
