Peru diagnoses the fight against organised crime in the tri-border region

Lima hosted the seminar ‘Diagnosis on the fight against organised crime in the triple border’, organised within the framework of the Support Programme against Drugs and Organised Crime in Peru with the support of the Peruvian Ministry of the Interior and with the aim of exchanging experiences between police and prosecutors from Brazil, Colombia and Peru in order to establish cooperation links and strategies to tackle in an articulated manner the fight against criminal organisations operating in the Amazonian trapezoid.

The seminar consisted of six panels. The first panel focused on police and prosecutorial work against crimes such as illicit drug trafficking, environmental crimes and human trafficking. The second panel focused on the control of waterways, the third on the control of civil aviation (light aircraft and aerodromes) and the destruction of clandestine airstrips. The fourth panel looked at the work of the participating States in protecting indigenous communities, human trafficking and human rights.

Likewise, the fifth panel highlighted the need to approach the fight against organised crime from a cooperative perspective, establishing direct coordination links between countries to optimise access to relevant information for the detection and reduction of criminal organisations. And finally, the sixth one has gathered the conclusions that will serve to propose strategies focused on the reduction of criminality in the tri-border area.

The event brought together prosecutors specialising in organised crime from Peru, Brazil and Colombia, as well as representatives of the Peruvian National Police, the Brazilian Federal Police and the Colombian National Police.

Likewise, agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of the United States Embassy, representatives of the National Superintendence of Customs and Tax Administration (SUNAT), the National Commission for Development and Life without Drugs (DEVIDA) and the General Directorate of Captains and Coast Guard (DICAPI of the Navy), among others, participated in the event.

During the inauguration, the Director General against Organised Crime of the Ministry of the Interior, Silvia De la Cruz, highlighted the importance of the articulated work between national justice operators and their counterparts in Brazil and Colombia to reduce the criminal phenomenon.

De la Cruz highlighted the work of the Peruvian National Police in tackling crimes such as drug trafficking, illegal mining and human trafficking, among others, in an area as complex as the Amazon region due to its difficult geographical access, and thanked the European Union for its contribution through the Support Programme against Drugs and Organised Crime in Peru and other areas such as PACCTO and Colibri, which promote training, coordination and other actions against these crimes in South America.