Mekong-Australia Partnership on Transnational Crime Forum in Vientiane, Laos.

Mekong-Australia Partnership on Transnational Crime Forum in Vientiane, Laos

     Director General of DSI, Pol. Maj. Suriya Singhakamol assigned Mr. Napol Woraprateep, Special Case Officer, Professional Level, Child Sexual Exploitation Crime Centre (CSECC) to participate in the meeting with Mekong-Australia Partnership on Transnational Crime Forum that was held by Australian Federal Police and A21 Foundation during 15 and 16 March 2023, in Vientiane, Laos, to foster regional cooperation between law enforcement agencies and civil-society organizations.

       The meeting was attended by relevant departments including United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Australian Federal Police office in Yangon, Australian Federal Police office in Bangkok, Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE), Ministry of Interior of Laos, Cambodian National Police Authority, Department of Special Investigation (DSI), Royal Canadian Mounted Police Gendarmerie (RCMP), New Zealand Police, and Civil Society Organizations (CSO).

      Also, the meeting discussed joint coordination efforts to combat transnational crime, where both representatives of DSI and Australian Federal Police brought up the parallel investigation within the operation “Blackwrist”, in which DSI was engaged from 2017 as an example. The operation demonstrated a close cooperation with Australian Federal Police and several international law enforcement agencies in the investigation and arrest of suspects of child sexual abuse in Thailand, Australia, and the United States. At present, evidence is still found and is linked to other offenders within several countries.    

       This meeting allowed law enforcement agencies and civil society organizations to acknowledge the role of DSI including the suppression of child sexual abuse, to enhance DSI’s public image, to protect children from sexual exploitation, and to create cooperation networks between government and private sectors to suppress future transnational criminal threats that could strengthen the cooperation between law enforcement agencies and civil society organizations at the international level.