Over 80 Interpol alerts targeting $479m in criminal assets published in 7 months

Illicit assets tracked down with help of Silver Notice include real estate, mafia-linked cattle

- Christine Tan

More than 80 Interpol alerts targeting criminal assets around the world have been published in the seven months since the global police organisation piloted its new Silver Notices.

These alerts sought information on assets worth more than €320 million (S$479 million) linked to financial and organised crime, including drug trafficking, robbery and scams.

Illicit assets tracked down with the help of these alerts, which were launched on Jan 10, included real estate, jewellery and even a herd of cattle linked to a senior member of the Italian mafia.

The update was furnished on Aug 26 by Mr Claudio Marinelli, operations coordinator at the Interpol Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre, at a workshop for Asia-Pacific countries about Silver Notices. The workshop was held on Aug 26 and 27 at Interpol's Global Complex for Innovation building in Napier Road.

The alert is the organisation's newest colour-coded notice, and it assists law enforcement agencies to locate assets hidden overseas by criminals.

Speaking to The Straits Times on the sidelines of the workshop, Mr Marinelli said that before the Silver Notice, there were no tools to trace assets worldwide. This grew to be a problem as crimes became more transcontinental.

"You can arrest the criminal, but if you don't deprive them of the illicit gains, your job is just half-done," said the official from Italy's financial crimes police force Guardia di Finanza — who has been seconded to Interpol.

The 51 countries and territories participating in the pilot phase, including Singapore, can use the Silver Notice to request information from all of Interpol's 196 member countries on criminal assets.