U.S. Director for Anticrime Programs David M. Luna today stressed that the United States is committed to shutting down illicit markets, putting criminal entrepreneurs and kleptocrats out of business, and combating converging threats and networks with effective coordination between investigations, prosecutions, and intelligence-based regional policing.
In his remarks on “Combating Illicit Trade and Converging Threats: Reducing the Harm to Economic Growth, Sustainable Development and Global Security,” Mr. Luna said in recent years, the United States and other partners have launched several innovative inter-regional platforms to combat transnational crime and dismantle illicit networks that threaten the security and stability of communities around the world.
“The theme of this year’s workshop is inter-agency cooperation in combating corruption and illicit trade. Coordination across the region and sub-regional levels through cross-cutting criminal threats such as, for example, narcotics, environmental crime, counterfeits, money-laundering, and corruption can assist us on both a regional and global level to effectively combat cross-border crimes and transnational illicit networks. As the world becomes more interconnected, this kind of cooperation becomes ever more important to fighting transnational crimes.” -Mr. Luna
He said the the goals that they will be highlighting in Phuket in the next couple of days are shutting down illicit markets, disrupting and dismantling criminal entrepreneurs and illicit networks via net-centric approaches, threat mitigation coordinated responses, and enhanced capacity-building efforts that strengthen our collective action to combat illicit trade.
