Cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking

The FIIAPP, within the framework of the AMERIPOL-EU project, organized the “Drug Trafficking Via Containers, Origin-Transit-Destination Seminar. EUROPOL Internship”, which will be held in The Hague and Rotterdam from 20th to 23rd October.

This training activity will include sessions led by specialists from the Spanish Organized Crime and Terrorism Intelligence Centre (CITCO), the National Police of the Netherlands, and experts from EUROPOL, EUROJUST and INTERPOL.

The aim is to make this first seminar just the first step in opening a pathway for collaboration between Europe and Latin American and Caribbean countries in the area of drug trafficking via containers.

Each group of participantsfrom the project beneficiary countries will make a presentation of the problem of drug trafficking, either from the standpoint of the origin countries (Bolivia, Colombia and Peru) or that of the transit countries (Ecuador, Brazil, Panama, Argentina and Venezuela). The activity will be complemented with visits to the Port of Rotterdam, one of the most important at the international level, to EUROPOL and to the cybercrime centre.

During the inauguration of the seminar, the Unit Head of the Department of International Affairs of the Netherlands Police, Chief Inspector Michael Öz, welcomed the officials representing the participating countries, expressing great satisfaction at being able to host “these types of activities that enable rapprochement between the police and security forces of so many countries” with a key role in the fight against drug trafficking.

“Alone we are just a finger, but together we are a fist against organized crime”, asserted Chief Inspector Michael Öz, emphasizing the impact that coordinated transnational cooperation can have in the fight against drug trafficking.