The leadership of the Philippine and the Indonesian police have started formulating standard procedures to further strengthen the conduct of joint police training and operations in a bid to boost the fight against transnational of the two countries which share borders in the Southeast Asia.
Gen. Rodolfo Azurin, Jr., chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said the discussion was made during his meeting with Indonesian National Police (INP) International Relations Divison of Indonesian National Police, Police Brigadier General Amur Chandra Juli Buana at the sidelines of 24th Asian Regional Conference of the INTERPOL General Secretariat in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
"This international understanding manifests the commitment of both Philippines and Indonesian police forces to enhance the level of partnership and cooperation between our two countries in fighting transnational crime and terrorism,” Azurin said.
Both police forces have also formulated a procedure in the conduct of hot pursuit operations along territorial waters, and guidelines for the handover of criminal suspects.
The PNP and INP forged a Memorandum of Understanding on Dec. 12 last year which was aimed at continuing the conduct of maritime joint exercises (PHILINDO JCM and MARLEX), capacity-building training/courses, and security assistance to boost the anti-crime campaign of the two countries.
The joint initiative of the two police forces seeks to prevent and control transnational crime activities including, but not limited to: drug trafficking, terrorism, arms smuggling, human trafficking, maritime piracy, cyber crimes, commercial crimes, credit card fraud, fraudulent travel documents, and other forms of commercial and financial fraud.