Police told to step up fight against crime

Police told to step up fight against crime

SINGAPORE (AFP): Police officials from the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were urged yesterday to intensify
cooperation against cross-border crime as the seven-nation group
prepared for a major expansion.

Singapore's Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng told a
conference of ASEAN police chiefs that "as trade and investment
within our region increase, so will the movement of people across
our borders and with that, cross-border crime."

"Regional cooperation on law enforcement will therefore assume
greater importance," he said.

The police conference opened two days after ASEAN foreign
ministers agreed in Kuala Lumpur to admit Myanmar, Cambodia and
Laos in July, raising the group's membership to 10 countries with
a total population of some 500 million.

ASEAN's current members are Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Cambodia and Laos
sent observers to the police chiefs' meeting here.

Wong said he expected the ASEAN Association of Police to play
an increasingly important role in ensuring public safety and
civil security, adding that as ASEAN progressed, police work
would become more complex.

"Crimes like phantom ship frauds where a ship destined for a
particular place unloads its goods at another port under an
assumed name cannot be fought single-handedly," Wong said.

He cited the case of the British "body parts" murderer John
Martin, who was executed here last year for murdering a South
African tourist. Evidence from Thailand, where he was linked to
the murder of two Canadian tourists, was used to prosecute him in
Singapore.

ASEAN police are currently working on a computer database
system allowing them to share information on-line, and hold
training seminars to keep themselves up to date on law
enforcement policies and techniques.

Singapore police commissioner Tee Tua Ba cited the importance
of information exchange on illicit firearms and commercial fraud,
which he said contributed to success in fighting criminal
syndicates.

"By maintaining the highest levels of cooperation, we
reinforce our united stance against crime across our region. This
is one of the strongest signals we can send to criminal elements
who operate in our region," he said.