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| Karen Lanyon, Australian consul general in HCM City, thanks the Ministry of Public Security for co-hosting the fourth Joint Management Group on people smuggling on November 15-17 in HCM City. – Photo from the Australian Embassy |
Viet Nam News
HCM CITY — People smuggling has become more sophisticated and requires law enforcement agencies to work closely together, the deputy minister of public security said at a meeting on law enforcement in people smuggling.
Speaking at the opening conference of the fourth law enforcement Joint Management Group (JMG) on people smuggling in HCM City yesterday, Senior Lieutenant General Phạm Dũng, Deputy Minister of Public Security, said: “Transnational organised crime and people smuggling syndicates have been established and are running people smuggling activities with many sophisticated and unpredictable modus operandi.
“This situation presents potential serious dangers and challenges to public safety and socio-economic stability, requiring law enforcement agencies of countries to cooperate, work closely and join hands to combat and address this issue,” he said.
The meeting takes place on November 15-17 to foster regional co-operation and progress to counter people smuggling efforts across Asia.
Law enforcement officials from Australia, Việt Nam, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, as well as India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar, along with Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, were in attendance to discuss emerging trends in this activity.
The Ministry of Public Security and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) co-hosted the meeting.
Australian Consul General Karen Lanyon’s key statement echoed the importance of deterring people smuggling to save lives.
Lesa Gale, AFP commander of the Operation Sovereign Borders Disruption and Deterrence Task Group, recognised Việt Nam’s efforts to support a regional approach to countering people smuggling.
“This multilateral crime forum is an excellent example of law enforcement collaboration, fostering regional cooperation to progress the holistic disruption of people smuggling and transnational crime across Asia,” she said.
The JMG was established in 2014 as a regional law enforcement partnership dedicated to preventing the exploitation of vulnerable men, women and children by people smugglers.
Previous JMG meetings have been held in Sydney, Australia (2014); Bali, Indonesia (2015); and Colombo, Sri Lanka (2016). — VNS
