Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome on Wednesday, May 3, rallied his African counterparts to work in tandem in defeating 3 dangerous crimes experienced continentwide.
Speaking during the Eleventh Afripol Steering Committee Meeting in Tunisia, the IG highlighted the three include organised transnational crimes, terrorism, and cybercrime.
"The key speakers addressing the opening session reiterated the importance of Afripo in championing the much-needed cooperation among law enforcement agencies within Africa, to effectively combat transnational organized crimes, terrorism and cybercrime.
“Afripol is the AU technical institution and has the mandate to strengthen cooperation between Police agencies of the AU Member States in the prevention and fight against organised transnational crimes, terrorism, and cybercrime,” read part of the National Police Service (NPS) statement.
IG Koome attended the event as Kenya's representative as well as the President of the Afripol-AU General Assembly, which is the African Union mechanism for police cooperation.
During the two-day official visit, Koome met high-ranking African police officials among them Tunisia’s Director of National Security, Mourad Saidan, and Algeria’s Director General of Police, Farid Bencheikh.
“During the opening ceremony, President Koome expressed his gratitude to the Government of Tunisia for their hospitality and support in hosting the Afripol Steering Committee meeting,” read the statement in part.
The event was a follow-up meeting to a similar one held in Nairobi in 2022.
Kenya as Afripol President
In October 2021, Kenya assumed the Presidency of the Afripol-AU General Assembly after its Inspector General of Police office-holder was elected to the position.
At the time, the National Police Service was led by former IG Hillary Mutyambai.
Kenya has faced several cases of transnational crime, especially, criminals using the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
On April 18, a Kenyan was nabbed at Kotoka International Airport in Ghana with cocaine worth Ksh41 million. She was travelling from Kenya to Ghana through South Africa.
