Modern policing important for Malaysia to fight transborder crimes: Ahmad Zahid

BEIJING: Modern policing is vital for Malaysia to step up cooperation with Interpol members to fight transborder crimes more effectively, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Ahmad Zahid, who is also Home Minister, said that transborder crimes are now increasingly complex, like cyber crimes and terrorism, which were also often found to be linked.
He noted that mastering technology was important to enable police to be at the forefront in combating transborder crimes.
"Biometrics, fingerprints are key evidence to ensure criminals can be tracked down fast. Face recognition systems are also needed for greater cooperation between Interpol members," he told the Malaysian media after attending the 86th General Assembly of Interpol at the China International Convention Centre here today.
Also present at the press conference were Malaysia's Ambassador to China, Datuk Zainuddin Yahya and Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Mohamad Fuzi Harun.
Ahmad Zahid said that in the effort to foster international peace, long-term measures like information and data sharing between Interpol countries was needed.
"We are satisfied with the close cooperation between the police and Interpol in tracking down foreign criminals or Malaysian criminals overseas in a timely manner," he said.
He said Interpol's role was becoming more and more important especially in real-time data sharing with the police for cases like theft, stolen and lost travel documents (SLTD), fingerprints, firearms, carjacking and wanted persons list.
On SLTD, Ahmad Zahid said that based on the database at Interpol's headquarters in France, of the 76 million passports reported missing throughout the world, 192,402 were Malaysian.
He said the Malaysian passport was among the best in the world because of its security features and was accepted by more than 150 countries without the need for a visa.
Meanwhile, Mohamad Fuzi said that between January till August this year, 52,459 Malaysians lost their passports and that this was recorded in Interpol's database.
"We view this seriously because Malaysian passports are highly prized and could have been stolen by syndicates," he said, adding that a Malaysian passport could fetch anything from RM100,000 up to RM250,000 in the black market.
He added that 59 Malaysian citizens abroad wanted by the police had Interpol red notices on them for crimes like murder, Macau Scam, terrorism, and drugs and firearms-related offences. — Bernama