Cambodia, Vietnam Add Interpol Database for Pilot Project

Wednesday, 04 July 2012
Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer | Washington, DC

“That means both countries took the Interpol equipment ahead of Asean’s other countries.”

Cambodia and Vietnam have become the first Southeast Asian countries to adopt a global database through Interpol to help track cross-border crimes, taking part in a pilot project that could mean more law enforcement communication across the region.

Interpol says its database currently contains over 30 million entries from more than 150 countries. Through the pilot project, two regional offices and 12 border control points in Cambodia and Vietnam are now connected to the database.

“That means both countries took the Interpol equipment ahead of Asean’s other countries,” said Sok Phal, deputy national police chief in charge of security.

Border Management Technology Advances In Cambodia, Vietnam

By Ahmad Fuad Yahya

JAKARTA, June 28 (Bernama) -- Cambodia and Vietnam can now instantly conduct real time searches of Interpol's global database, thanks to the technical solutions developed by Interpol.

This database currently contains over 30 million entries from more than 150 countries, including information on stolen and lost travel documents.

After only a few months, the Interpol's IT-based information exchange system is proving results.

Some listed criminals had been detected in the border area between Cambodia and Vietnam and judicial procedures were now proceeding, the Asean Secretariat said in a statement Thursday.

Interpol issues arrest notice for Kadhafi, son Seif [-A lesson for Hun Xen and Hun Manet?]

A woman reads a copy of the newspaper Arus al-Bahr bearing a doctored image of Moamer Kadhafi (AFP, Patrick Baz)

Friday, September 09, 2011
AFP

LYON, France — World police body Interpol on Friday called for the arrest of fugitive former Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi for his alleged crimes against humanity, following a request by the International Criminal Court.

Interpol said it had issued a "red notice" for the arrest of Kadhafi, his son Seif al-Islam and his intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, one day after ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo asked for the agency's help.

Interpol asked its 188 member countries "to take all measures consistent with their national laws to help the ICC locate and apprehend Kadhafi."

[Thai] Government seeking international community help in capturing Thaksin

November 10, 2009
The Nation

Thailand is turning the heat on fugitive Thaksin Shinawatra by asking fellow Asean members and others in the intentional community to assist the government's determination to capture the former premier.

Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said Tuesday besides Asean countries, the Interpol (International Police) and others in the international community have been asked to keep a look out for Thaksin's whereabout and to arrest him immediately and turn him over to the Thai authorities.

Panitan said all the documents along with evidence have been gathered and are ready to be submitted to the Cambodian authorities so they can arrest Thaksin.

Interpol asked to help find Thaksin

Fri, May 22, 2009
The Nation/Asia News Network

Police have sought help from the Interpol unit in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in a search for fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who is believed to have been staying in that country.

The police move came after Pheu Thai Party MP Chalerm Yoobamrung admitted he had been to Dubai recently to visit Thaksin for three days.

Police Maj General Visanu Prasartthong-osot said the latest intelligence report showed Thaksin had not left the UAE, but police were checking if he had left the country under another name.

"We believe he is likely still in that country because it is not far from Thailand and he can use it as a base for his close aides to come and see him,'' he said.

Visanu said he had submitted a request to the Attorney General's Foreign Affairs office to seek the extradition of Thaksin, even though Thailand does not have an extradition treaty with the UAE. "We can ask for cooperation from the UAE since we had earlier helped them arrest and dispatch suspects wanted by them."

After the court issued an arrest warrant for Thaksin, police stepped up pressure on him by asking Interpol police in 187 countries to help find and arrest him, he said. Thai police had been dispatched to countries Thaksin was believed to visit frequently such as Hong Kong, Nicaragua, Montenegro, Cambodia and the UAE.

Chalerm said he did not discuss politics or who would be the new party leader with Thaksin, but they talked about his well-being and his business. Thaksin told him he had bought an island in Montenegro to develop a real estate business, hoping to make billions of baht in profit by selling expensive mansions to Asian millionaires, following the success of Hawaii.

"Thaksin is living a good life in Dubai because the country highly honours him and has given him top security. The reports that said Thaksin is not welcome there are wrong. Dubai approved a visa for me 24 hours after I applied. Thaksin took me out shopping in malls and many people came to ask for his autograph and his picture,'' he said.

Thaksin also won five goldmine concessions from a country in Africa, which had given him a special passport.

Responding to Chalerm's revelation of his visit to Thaksin in Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said he had not made any progress getting Thaksin back because he had more important work to do, such as combating drugs and violence in the South.

Thaksin, Where Are You?

Interpol's help sought for Thaksin's arrest

April 14, 2009
The Nation

The Foreign Ministry has requested that the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) apprehend fugitive former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, who is suspected of being behind the recent riots by red-shirted protesters.

An informed source said a formal request was submitted last week to Interpol headquarters in Lyon, France, because Thaksin was a "wanted person" in Thailand.

Thailand is a member of Interpol and can use the organisation's fugitive-investigation services. Interpol can help the Thai government track down Thaksin's whereabouts. He often travels by private jet, making it difficult to know where he will go next.

Thailand has also requested the United Arab Emirates inform Thailand if Thaksin returns there.

"We have full cooperation from the UAE," said the source.

He also said Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen had told Thai authorities that Cambodia honoured its relations with the Abhisit Vejjajiva government and would not allow its territory to be used by Thaksin. Thai media have often reported that Cambodia has been used as a transit point for the ex-premier.

"Thaksin is considered a fugitive, one who poses a serious threat to public safety in Thailand. We have a good case," said the source.

Interpol will help Thailand circulate Thaksin's identification details and judicial information about him internationally.

The sources said Thaksin had been given an Interpol "red notice", which is recognised in a number of countries and serves as the legal basis for provisional arrest. A red notice is intended to help police identify or locate Thaksin, with a view to his arrest and extradition.

Interpol Seizes $6.65 Million in Counterfeit Drugs

By Simeon Bennett

Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Interpol seized more than $6.65 million of counterfeit drugs against malaria, HIV and tuberculosis in Southeast Asia and made 27 arrests.

The haul, part of the five-month Operation Storm across Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, involved almost 200 raids, Aline Plancon, an officer involved in the action, said today by e-mail from Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Global sales of fake drugs may reach $75 billion in 2010, an increase of more than 90 percent from 2005, the Geneva-based World Health Organization said on its Web site, citing the New York-based Center for Medicine in the Public Interest.

Under Operation Storm, which ran from April 15 to Sept. 15, police seized more than 16 million pills, including fake antibiotics for pneumonia and child-related illnesses, Plancon said.

Counterfeits account for as much as 30 percent of all drugs in developing nations and less than 1 percent of all drugs in developed nations such as the U.S., according to the WHO.

About 40 percent of 1,047 counterfeit drug-related arrests worldwide last year were made in Asia, according to the Washington-based Pharmaceutical Security Institute.

To contact the reporter on this story: Simeon Bennett in Singapore at
sbennett9@bloomberg.net.

Interpol tracking down pedophile abusing children in VN and Cambodia

An undated handout photo of an unidentified man is issued by Interpol, October 7, 2007. Interpol on Monday launched an unprecedented worldwide public appeal to track down a man shown sexually abusing children in images posted on the Internet. (Photo: REUTERS/Interpol/Handout)

Interpol in rare global appeal for Web paedophile

Mon Oct 8, 2007
By Mark Trevelyan

LONDON (Reuters) - Interpol on Monday launched an unprecedented worldwide public appeal to track down a man shown sexually abusing children in images posted on the Internet.

The man appears in around 200 photographs featuring abuse of 12 young boys, which investigators believe were taken in Vietnam and Cambodia, possibly in 2002 and 2003.

The pictures had been digitally altered to disguise the man's face with a swirly pattern, but computer specialists at Germany's federal police agency, the BKA, worked with Interpol's human trafficking team to produce identifiable images.

The global police body said it was making the unique public appeal because, despite extensive efforts through its network of 186 member states, the man remained unknown.

"For years, images of this man sexually abusing children have been circulating on the Internet," Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble said.

"We have tried all other means to identify and to bring him to justice, but we are now convinced that without the public's help this sexual predator could continue to rape and sexually abuse young children whose ages appear to range from six to early teens."

Photographs of the man are available on Interpol's Web site, www.interpol.int and anyone with information on him is urged to contact their local police or Interpol's human trafficking unit.

Anders Persson, a Swedish police officer seconded to the unit, told Reuters the dark-haired man in the photos was thought to be a European aged around 35-40.

He said a child abuser seeking contact with like-minded individuals on the Internet would sometimes post pictures of himself in the act of abuse as a kind of "ID card" to prove he is a genuine hard-core paedophile.

The inquiry began when the first pictures of the man were found by German police in 2004. A link to a Vietnamese hotel emerged from advertising material seen on a bedside table in some of the pictures, Persson said. But checks against passport photos of people on the hotel's guest list drew a blank.

Other photos were taken at outdoor locations in Cambodia that were recognised by police there.

Interpol runs a huge database of images of child sex abuse and uses sophisticated software to find connections between them, even analysing tiny details like wallpaper and fabric patterns in apparently anonymous indoor settings.

Now containing more than 520,000 images submitted by 36 member states, the database has helped police identify and rescue nearly 600 victims from 31 countries to date.