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Romania's Interior Minister Petre Toba on Friday welcomed Secretary General of Interpol Jurgen Stock, with the two officials including in their conversation the latest antidrug operation in Romania, the seizure of more than 2.5 tonnes of cocaine. The Interior Ministry (MAI) says in a press statement that Toba and Stock focused mainly on the challenges currently facing the European Union in terms of terror threats and their impact on cooperation among law enforcement officers in the aftermath of the UK voting to leave the European Union.
"At the same time, the interior minister informed the Interpol Secretary general about the recent narcotic seizure in Romania, more than 2.5 tonnes of cocaine, which once again reflects the involvement of Romania's law enforcement organisations in the world community's fight against crime," says MAI.
It quotes Toba as saying that such complex operations are the result of police cooperation between Romania and the law enforcement organisations of partner countries. "The Secretary General of the Interpol announced that the case will be used as a cooperation example at a regional conference in the Americas, scheduled for early August in Panama," the statement reads. Stock is quoted as saying, about cooperation with Romanian authorities, that Romania is an example of good practice in European as far as the implementation, use and access of police databases offered by Interpol are concerned. MAI says Romania is among the world's top ten countries in terms of uploading data and information to the databases, as well as a main contributor to the Interpol operations.
"As a token of appreciation of the Romanian police officers' professionalism, Romania has been invited to dispatch specialists to joint projects conducted by the Interpol Secretariat General and also to submit joint applications for projects in the European zone funded by the EU as well as other external bodies," says MAI.
Because of intensified terror actions and an increase in threats against world security and following Friday's talks, MAI will get technical assistance and support from the Interpol Secretariat General to implement all the cooperation instruments, which will contribute to increased security for the citizens, MAI says. "We are an important partner to Interpol, which we have joined in many successful operations, and today's meeting reconfirms this excellent cooperation, while providing an opportunity for developing new cooperation instruments," Toba is quoted as having said at the need of his meeting with visiting Interpol Secretary General Jurgen Stock. In his turn, Stock said cooperation between Interpol and European agencies is getting increasingly better, highlighting EU's support for Interpol.
