The United States (U.S.) Ambassadors to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and Serbia, Michael Murphy and Christopher Hill, organized a conference on Transnational Organized Crime two nights ago in Sarajevo in order to, as they say, identify ways in which we can support each other in the fight against organized crime.
As Murphy said, since the threat to the Western Balkans represented by transnational organized crime networks has grown, mutual cooperation and united action in the fight against it have become even more important.
“Inhabitants of your countries are trying to live better, and we hope that each of these countries will eventually become a member of the Euro-Atlantic institutions. One of the biggest obstacles to that goal is organized crime, it was a vile association that has influence at the state level, undermining the rule of law, or about ordinary members of criminal networks who commit crimes that harm honest citizens,” said Murphy.
He added that he is aware of the challenges faced by law enforcement agencies and every day, as he states, it is becoming more difficult to fight against organized crime, because criminal networks are constantly adapting the means, tactics and techniques they use.
“This conference is an opportunity to build the bridges we need to fight these criminals together. By building a united front and using the collective knowledge in this room about how criminal organizations operate throughout the Western Balkans, we can fight transnational organized crime a lot more aggressive and efficient,” Murphy added.
He emphasized the three goals of this conference, first to find ways to improve and strengthen cooperation and intelligence sharing in the field of law enforcement, so that they can prevent, detect and dismantle criminal networks and also to find ways to improve cooperation between law enforcement agencies, prosecutors and judiciary.
“Secondly, we hope that you will improve individual and organizational capacities, particularly in areas such as asset forfeiture, financial analysis, investigative techniques and legal procedures. Thirdly, and lastly, I hope that you will be able to develop unique strategies, define best practices and identify new ways using digital evidence. As you know, the U.S. and our international partners have collected billions of digital messages from encrypted applications that could ultimately land many in prison,” Murphy points out.
One example is the FBI-led operation Trojan Shield, which involves the DEA, the Australian Federal Police, Europol and law enforcement partners from more than a dozen other countries.
Given that criminal networks operate in different countries and take advantage of flexible political and judicial systems, deeper and more effective cross-border law enforcement cooperation is needed to shed light on their operations and impose consequences.
“When the law enforcement sector is free to act independently and for the benefit of the citizens of your country, then you are the good guys. Make no doubt about it. And now I call on you: catch the bad guys,” Murphy said.
