Razon attends Interpol meeting in Hongkong

By Ronron
March 4, 2008

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Avelino Razon, Jr. and other top officers of the agency went to Hongkong Tuesday to attend the 20th Asian Regional Conference of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).

PNP spokesman Sr. Supt. Nicanor Bartolome said Razon was in the company of PNP Director for Plans Dir. Romeo Ricardo, PNP Director for Personnel and Records Management Dir. Edgardo Acuña, and PNP Director for Operations Chief Supt. Silverio Alarcio. They took a commercial flight at noon yesterday.

In a statement, Bartolome said Razon “will present before the Interpol body a country paper on current domestic and regional security concerns.”

Bartolome said the agenda of the event include regional issues on transnational crime involving trafficking in illegal drugs, commercial fraud, bank and internet fraud, currency counterfeiting, human trafficking, intellectual property crimes, transnational terrorism, and international fugitives.

The updates on the ongoing development of the I-24/7 Interpol Database Network, which is shared among 186 member-countries as a means to share crucial information on criminals and criminal activities, is also expected to be discussed, he said.

Bartolome said the conference will be attended by the heads of the National Central Bureaus (NCB) of Interpol from 47 countries in the Asian, Middle East, and South Pacific Regions.

This year’s event is hosted by the Ministry of Public Security of China, and the Hongkong Police Force (HKPF), which is a sub-bureau of NCB-China.

Interpol Secretary-General Ronald Noble and HKPF Commissioner Tang King-shing will formally open the conference at 9am today (Wednesday, Manila time) at the HKPF Headquarters in Hongkong’s Wanchai District, said Bartolome.

“It is an honor for the Philippine National Police to be represented in this international conference among heads of national police organizations in Asia who are committed to a common goal against transnational crime and terrorism,” Razon said in the statement.

Bartolome said Razon and his companions will be back in the country on Saturday.

In the meantime that he is not around, Razon designated Deputy Director General Jesus Verzosa, the deputy chief for administration, to be the PNP Officer-in-Charge, Bartolome said./DMS