PRETORIA. – Police are working on establishing a regional centre that will gather and analyse intelligence from various law enforcement agencies to combat drug trafficking and transnational organised crime. The planned centre will strengthen cooperation between countries and help identify and address criminal networks operating across borders. The plan is to be discussed during the ministerial Troika meeting of the Tripartite Planning Unit (TPU), which is taking place in Pretoria until today.
According to the police ministry's keynote address at the meeting, South Africa, Mozambique and Tanzania are increasingly affected by the illegal trade in drugs such as cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. The drugs are reportedly transported from Latin America and along the eastern and southern coasts of Africa, with traditional dhows being used to carry shipments to Mozambique and Tanzania before they are transported by road to South Africa. The TPU was established with the support of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to address this threat through improved intelligence sharing, border control and joint action.
The meeting also focuses on financial investigations, the recovery of assets linked to crime and the improvement of cooperation between law enforcement agencies. Participating countries want not only to increase drug seizures and arrests, but also to disrupt criminal networks and their financial sources. Angola and Uganda have applied to join the TPU because they face similar challenges and have been accepted as full members with voting rights to the Tripartite Planning Unit.
The ministry says the expansion of cooperation is necessary because organised crime is also linked to kidnapping, vehicle theft, human trafficking, migrant smuggling and financial crime. The ministers will review country reports and progress. They will approve a programme of activities that will be monitored by the TPU secretariat.
This article is an automatic English translation of a Nuusflits article originally published in Afrikaans. Read the Afrikaans original.
