The Council of Europe, with the support of the City and the University of Málaga, is organising an international conference in Málaga (Spain) on 21 and 22 of September aimed at improving international co-operation to better address the interaction between transnational organised crime and terrorist groups, and explore strategies to prevent and combat both of them.
In recent years many European states have experienced terror attacks where terrorists have used connections to organised crime to finance operations, procure arms and ammunition, and forge documents.
Terrorist groups are also often involved in traditional organised crime activities such as drug and arms trafficking, trafficking in human beings, smuggling of cultural property and counterfeiting of goods. In addition, they often recruit individuals with a criminal background and use their connections in the criminal world to plan, prepare and execute their attacks.
Generally, organised crime and terrorism have been dealt with as separate topics in law and policy, with different law enforcement bodies dealing with each of them. However there is an increasing need to improve co-operation between these bodies to fight more effectively both types of crimes.
The conference aims to better understand the modus operandi and interaction of organised crime and terror in Europe, share best practices from joint investigative teams fighting organised crime and terrorist groups and address legal problems that may arise in investigations where intelligence and police services co-operate. Other topics on the agenda are how to better fight both terrorist and organised groups in relation to internet-based crime and the production of digital evidence.
The conference will bring together representatives from the 47 Council of Europe member states – including government officials, judges, prosecutors and members of the police forces -, representatives of international organisations and policy makers, working in preventing and fighting organised crime and terrorism.
The conference will be opened by Jan Kleijssen, Director of the Information Society and Action against Crime of the Council of Europe, and Francisco de la Torre, Mayor of Málaga. At the end of the first day of the conference, Rafael Catalá, Spanish Minister of Justice, will deliver a speech.
