The Australian Federal Police and the Fiji Police Force will co-host an Organised Crime Summit in May next year to identify and target Pacific-focused crime, including illicit commodities, money laundering, cybercrime, foreign interference, environmental crime and illegal fishing and logging.
This has been confirmed by AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett while speaking during a joint press conference with Fiji Police Commissioner Rusiate Tudravu.
She says this historic summit in Fiji will be a crucial turning point in how we target highly organised criminals who are eroding our way of life and undermining our sovereignty because of their greed and their indifference to the misery they are causing our communities.
She says these well-funded and entrenched criminal cartels and gangs require a strong united Pacific flock to identify, target and disrupt their illicit operating model.
Barrett says when it comes to keeping communities safe, actions mean more than words.
She says showing up when needed, that is what family does and that is what our two police forces do for each other every day. Fiji and Australia, with our Pacific partners, will find the best solutions together to keep our region safe and we are already doing this together and with great success.
The AFP Commissioner says the summit is another example of how they are taking action together.
Barrett says the summit will bring together senior and operational law enforcement officers across the Pacific, Five Eyes law enforcement group representatives and international agencies, including Interpol and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
She further says they will use this summit to make our communities in Fiji, Australia and the Pacific region safer by leveraging the latest intelligence, world-leading capability and technology.
The AFP Commissioner also says that over the past 24 hours, she has met with Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and Minister for Policing Ioane Naivalurua where she has expressed her gratitude for the leadership of Commissioner Tudravu.
She adds the fight against organised crime takes vision, and it takes fortitude and she is proud to be standing next to a partner who has the courage and the determination to meet the challenges that are before them.
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