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European co-operation to fight organised crime
25/11/2007
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill will see at first hand tomorrow how Europol, the European police office, is playing its part in the fight against organised crime in Scotland.
Europol is the European Union's response to the threat of organised crime and aims at improving the effectiveness and co-operation of law enforcement across all Member States in preventing and combating terrorism, unlawful drug trafficking and other serious forms of international organised crime.
The Scottish Police Service relies heavily on Europol to negotiate surveillance teams with law enforcement in other Member States for SCDEA operations in Europe. It is just this kind of support which saw the successful seizure of eight tons of cannabis off Western Spain in 2005. These drugs were destined for Scottish communities.
The Justice Secretary will be at Europol's HQ in The Hague to meet its Director and members of the UK Liaison Bureau, including an officer from the SCDEA, to hear how the organisation is working with Scotland's crime-fighters.
Speaking in advance of his visit, Kenny MacAskill said:
"I recently chaired the first meeting of the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce. This body will provide strategic direction and co-ordination for all the organisations fighting serious organised crime in Scotland.
"However, we need to recognise that the tentacles of serious organised crime stretch well beyond our borders. Many of those involved in peddling drugs or trafficking people into Scotland operate from or through mainland Europe.
"Therefore, combating serious organised crime in Scotland cannot be done in isolation - it requires effective co-operation with our close European neighbours. Exchanging information, working together to identify national and international threats and facilitating and supporting cross-border operations are all vital if we are to tackle these criminal gangs.
"Members of the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce already work closely with Europol and I am looking forward to learning more about how these established liaison networks can help support our efforts here in Scotland.
"Working together we can put these criminal groups out of business."
Europol is the European Union's (EU) response to the threat of organised crime and is designed to facilitate the secure exchange of intelligence between Member States (MS).
Formally set up in 1994 under the Maastricht Treaty as the Europol Drugs Unit, Europol finally took up its full activities on 1st July 1999 with a mandate under the Europol Convention.
Europol's Aim is "to improve the effectiveness and co-operation between the competent authorities of the MS in preventing and combating serious international organised crime and terrorism." Its Mission is to "make a significant contribution to the EU's law enforcement actions in preventing and combating serious international crime with an emphasis on the criminal organisations involved"
It supports the law enforcement activities of the MS mainly against:
- illicit drug trafficking
- illicit immigration networks
- terrorism
- forgery of money and other means of payment
- trafficking of human beings
- illicit vehicle trafficking
- money laundering
Europol supports by:
- facilitating the exchange of information, in accordance with national law, between Europol liaison officers (ELOs);
- providing operational analysis in support of operations
- generating strategic reports (for example, threat assessments) and crime analysis on the basis of information and intelligence supplied by MS and third parties
- providing expertise and technical support of investigations and operations carried out within the EU, under the supervision of the MS concerned