INTERPOL SUMMIT URGES A UNITED FRONT AGAINST ORGANISED CRIME

Police leaders from across Africa gather to discuss solutions

- MANDILAKHE TSHWETE

AS THE country battles cross-border smuggling, drug trafficking, firearm proliferation and illegal mining, National Police Commissioner, Fannie Masemola, said the 27th Interpol African Regional Conference, which opened yesterday at the Century City Convention, came at the right time.

The biennial conference, which ends tomorrow, brings together police chiefs, ministers, and security experts from across the continent to forge a united front against the threat of transnational organised crime.

Delegates from Africa’s 54 countries joined senior Interpol officials, African Union representatives, and South African government leaders in charting strategies to combat illicit networks destabilising communities across the continent.

Welcoming delegates, Masemola, said the gathering came at a crucial time.

“We gather not merely as representatives of our countries, but as partners bound by a shared responsibility, to confront the complex and evolving challenges of transnational crime that undermine peace, prosperity, and the rule of law,” he said.

Masemola highlighted South Africa’s battle against cross-border smuggling, drug trafficking, firearms proliferation, and illegal mining.

Just last week, authorities destroyed counterfeit medicines and narcotics worth more than R420 million.

“These threats are not unique to us; they echo across the continent, demanding collective and coordinated responses,’ he said.

“Transnational crime knows no borders, and our response cannot be confined by borders either.”

He urged delegates to remember the human cost of crime.