It cannot be easy to plan a conference for 300 delegates from 167 countries and with every spoken contribution being translated simultaneously into English, French, Spanish and Arabic. 

That was the challenge facing the organisers of the INTERPOL National Central Bureaus (NCBs) whose annual conference is normally held in Lyon, France. 

Because of the pandemic, this year’s conference is being held online and being attended ‘virtually’ by Inspector Paul Barker of the Royal Gibraltar Police who heads the local INTERPOL office.

The 3-day conference brings together the leadership of NCBs to examine matters related to cooperation among police forces from around the world.  This cooperation may be between NCBs themselves or with INTERPOL’s General Secretariat on operational issues, exchange of best practices and may provide updates about INTERPOL policing capabilities.

The conference was opened by Interpol’s President Kim Jong Yang of Korea and its Secretary General, Jürgen Stock from Germany.

‘Having direct access to Interpol is of immense value to the RGP’, said Inspector Barker.  ‘We deal with them every working day.’

Note to Editors:

Only yesterday, 6 July, an alleged prolific cybercriminal was apprehended in Morocco following a joint two-year investigation by INTERPOL and the Moroccan police.

Acting under the signature name of ‘Dr Hex’, the suspect is believed to have targeted thousands of unsuspecting victims over several years through global phishing, fraud and activities involving credit card fraud.