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Ireland, UK set up joint taskforce to deal with cross-border crime

Xinhua, December 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom agreed on Monday to set up a new joint taskforce to help tackle organized crime on both sides of the border, including crime linked to paramilitarism.

Ministers from both the Republic of Ireland and the UK's Northern Ireland met in Dublin on Monday to discuss measures to tackle cross-border crime, as part of the agreement reached during talks in Belfast last month.

Police chiefs from both sides also took part in the talks.

Under a communique issued after the meeting, both sides agreed to set up the new interagency taskforce, which will bring together the expertise of a range of law enforcement agencies involved in tackling the organized crime gangs that seek to exploit the borders between the jurisdictions.

The new taskforce will intensify and expand current North-South cooperation at both the strategic and operational levels, leveraging the expertise and resources of a range of law enforcement agencies, in order to disrupt and dismantle these gangs and their activities, the communique said.

The first meeting of the new taskforce is expected to take place next month, it said.

A number of recent incidents and prosecutions in the border counties have highlighted the need for action, according to both police forces. Endit