New Delhi, Oct 17 (FN Agency) The most significant trends is the increasing influence of organised crime groups both in the physical world with associated increased violence, and the virtual world with cybercrime causing a massive economic and social impact on governments, businesses and individuals worldwide, said Jurgen Stock, Secretary General, Interpol. Stock, at a Press Conference held at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi on Monday, said organised crime networks are making billions of dollars, and the fact that less than one percent of global illicit financial flows are intercepted and recovered – or rather, nearly 99 per cent of stolen assets remain in criminal hands – should be of greater concern to everyone”. Combined with estimates of the global cost of cybercrime which is expected to reach 10.5 trillion US dollars by 2025, brings investigative agencies to the basics of policing, it added. “Over the coming days, we will be addressing a range of global security issues and how these can be addressed through the unique platform which is INTERPOL,” said Stock.
INTERPOL has developed its global stop-payment mechanism, the Anti-Money Laundering Rapid Response Protocol, which in the past 10 months alone has helped member countries recover more than 60 million dollars in criminal proceeds from cyber enabled fraud, he said. Global Crime Trend Report highlighted the massive increase in online child sexual exploitation and abuse, figures which are only set to increase, he added. The cybercrime and online child abuse are significantly under reported, often because victims are ashamed or in cases of fraud, embarrassed, which means that the figures we see are just the tip of the iceberg, Stock said. Police around the world are overwhelmed with data, and too often they do not have the capacity to deal with the volume of cases – and here INTERPOL is uniquely placed to provide the support they need. Today, with the click of a button, police anywhere in the world can instantly check against INTERPOL’s 19 global databases containing 126 million records including DNA profiles and facial recognition images. Databases are checked more than 20 million times each day – which equates to around 250 searches per second, the statement stated. International Child Sexual Exploitation database helps investigators around the world identify an average of seven child abuse victims – every single day.
INTERPOL is uniquely positioned to help countries address these crime threats, as well as locate and arrest the criminals behind them, notably through Red Notices. A Red Notice is not an international arrest warrant, and INTERPOL cannot force any member country to arrest an individual who is the subject of a Red Notice. It is not for INTERPOL to judge the merit of a case or a decision taken by national courts – that is a sovereign matter. The 90th General Assembly of INTERPOL will be held from October 18 to 21. The meeting will be attended by delegations from 195 INTERPOL member countries comprising Ministers, Police Chiefs of countries, Heads of National Central Bureaus and Senior police officers. The General Assembly is INTERPOL’s supreme governing body and meets once a year to take key decisions related to its functioning.