BUCHAREST, June 17th – The representatives of the member countries discussed upon the future operational activities within the framework of the Container Security Task Force, during its 6th meeting, held in Bucharest.
In the light of transition towards SELEC, Gürbüz Bahadır, the Director of SECI Center, assured the member countries’ representatives that “the operational structure will continue. We will keep the task forces and continue with the everyday activity. The capacity of the Operational Support Department will be increased for data handling”.
In order to better response to the challenges the law enforcement in the region face, the Deputy Director of SECI Center, Petros Petroff, announced an important step forward: “We have the pleasure to introduce a new model of modus operandi of a Container Security Task Force and Environmental and Nature Related Crimes Task Force joint operation which is expected to be deployed in a large scale, involving both police and customs with the aim to achieve inter agency cooperation and operational interaction. For us it will be a huge challenge and it will raise the awakens keeping our services in alert to detect suspicious consignments posing threats to our countries”.
The Regional Assessment presented during the meeting highlighted the member countries’ approach on combining local and international criteria and best practices in order to develop an effective risk analysis system. They also expressed their willingness to participate in both large scale and regional operational in order to detect and stop illegal activities in Southeast European area.
The contribution of the observers and partners of SECI Center, such as EUBAM, France, The Netherlands and UNODC opened new possibilities for cooperation in the future.
In the framework of the Container Security Task Force, SECI Center co-organized a Commodity Identification Training, together with the U.S. Department of Energy. The American specialists provided practical exercises and information on sensitive subjects, such as nuclear fuel cycle and weapons, biological and chemical weapons, missile system to raise the professional skills of the representatives of the law enforcement agencies in the SECI Center region.
The SECI Regional Center for Combating Trans-border Crime, headquartered in Bucharest, Romania, was launched in 2000, and is a unique operational organization in which police and customs liaison officers from 13 member states (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey) work together in direct cooperation, coordinate joint investigations and facilitate information exchange.
Besides the member countries, there are 22 observers, countries and organizations: Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, CARICC, Czech Republic, EUBAM, France, Georgia, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia, Ukraine, UNODC, UNDP Romania, the United Kingdom, UNMIK, and the United States of America.
Italy and the United States maintain permanent representation at the SECI Center, and Interpol and the World Customs Organization are permanent (non-resident) advisors to the SECI Center.
SECI Center has the observer status to the Conference of the Parties to the UNCTOC, CARICC and IOM.
BUCHAREST, June 17th – The representatives of the member countries discussed upon the future operational activities within the framework of the Container Security Task Force, during its 6th meeting, held in Bucharest.
In the light of transition towards SELEC, Gürbüz Bahadır, the Director of SECI Center, assured the member countries’ representatives that “the operational structure will continue. We will keep the task forces and continue with the everyday activity. The capacity of the Operational Support Department will be increased for data handling”.
In order to better response to the challenges the law enforcement in the region face, the Deputy Director of SECI Center, Petros Petroff, announced an important step forward: “We have the pleasure to introduce a new model of modus operandi of a Container Security Task Force and Environmental and Nature Related Crimes Task Force joint operation which is expected to be deployed in a large scale, involving both police and customs with the aim to achieve inter agency cooperation and operational interaction. For us it will be a huge challenge and it will raise the awakens keeping our services in alert to detect suspicious consignments posing threats to our countries”.
The Regional Assessment presented during the meeting highlighted the member countries’ approach on combining local and international criteria and best practices in order to develop an effective risk analysis system. They also expressed their willingness to participate in both large scale and regional operational in order to detect and stop illegal activities in Southeast European area.
The contribution of the observers and partners of SECI Center, such as EUBAM, France, The Netherlands and UNODC opened new possibilities for cooperation in the future.
In the framework of the Container Security Task Force, SECI Center co-organized a Commodity Identification Training, together with the U.S. Department of Energy. The American specialists provided practical exercises and information on sensitive subjects, such as nuclear fuel cycle and weapons, biological and chemical weapons, missile system to raise the professional skills of the representatives of the law enforcement agencies in the SECI Center region.
The SECI Regional Center for Combating Trans-border Crime, headquartered in Bucharest, Romania, was launched in 2000, and is a unique operational organization in which police and customs liaison officers from 13 member states (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey) work together in direct cooperation, coordinate joint investigations and facilitate information exchange.
Besides the member countries, there are 22 observers, countries and organizations: Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, CARICC, Czech Republic, EUBAM, France, Georgia, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia, Ukraine, UNODC, UNDP Romania, the United Kingdom, UNMIK, and the United States of America.
Italy and the United States maintain permanent representation at the SECI Center, and Interpol and the World Customs Organization are permanent (non-resident) advisors to the SECI Center.
SECI Center has the observer status to the Conference of the Parties to the UNCTOC, CARICC and IOM.
