Drug cartels and other organized crime groups are being infiltrated and facilitated by hostile foreign governments to sell filthy cash and illicit substances in Australia.
key points:
- AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw delivers speech to Five Eyes Law Enforcement Group
- The group includes the FBI, DEA, UK Met Police, NZ Police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
- He says the “long shadow of organized crime and state aggression” is fueling a rise in serious crimes.
The dangerous assessment was carried out by the country’s top policeman at a Sydney meeting of key crime-fighting figures from the Five Eyes countries of the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw, who is currently chair of the Five Eyes Law Enforcement Group (FLEG), says a “long shadow of organized crime and state aggression” is fueling a rise in serious crimes.
“State actors and citizens of certain countries are using our countries at the expense of our sovereignty and economies,” Commissioner Kershaw told a gathering of representatives from domestic and international agencies on Wednesday night.
Speaking to top figures from organizations including the FBI, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, New Zealand Police and the UK’s National Crime Agency, Commissioner Kershaw confirmed that “federal crime is on the rise in Australia”.
“Contributing to this increase is the long shadow of organized crime and state aggression,” he told his audience, which included new Attorney-General Mark Dreyfuss.
“For AFP, geopolitics and regional instability continue to affect our strategic priorities,” he said.
“Our operational focus is to combat terrorism, espionage and foreign interference; child abuse; cyber; fraud, and transnational serious organized crime – what we call transnational, serious and organized crime (TSOC).
The AFP commissioner also revealed that “a significant number of TSOC syndicates targeting Australia have moved offshore to evade or defraud law enforcement”.
Commissioner Kershaw did not specify which foreign states were involved.
He explained how money laundering organizations from an unspecified area were clearly visible in all the Five Eyes countries.
“TSOC’s crime model is facilitated by countries that have unregulated chemical and financial markets.”
“We cannot ignore the fact that some countries are producing [drug] The precursor to an eye-watering scale.”
“We also cannot ignore the fact that some countries, I would argue, are turning a blind eye to the proceeds of crime washing through their economies.”
