A close operational exchange of information and good practices between law enforcement representatives internationally is the only possibility to effectively detect and punish cross-border crime, especially when it comes to money laundering and cybercrime.”
This is the summary of the international conference held in Burgas on the topic “Exchange of experience and good practices for countering transnational crime, cybercrime and money laundering”.
The Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Bulgaria is the host. The Bulgarian side was represented by the Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev, the Deputy Chief Prosecutor Desislava Pironeva, the Spokesperson of the Chief Prosecutor Siika Mileva, Tsvetomir Yosifov, Head of the “International” Department at the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor’s Office (SPC), Prosecutor Sava Petrov from the SPC, the Appellate Prosecutor of Burgas Lyubomir Petrov, the deputy appellate prosecutor of Burgas Valentina Madzharova, representatives of the Main Directorate “Border Police” – Ministry of Interior, as well as the DG “Fire and Emergency Safety”.
The three-day forum was attended by representatives of prosecutorial institutions from Ukraine, Moldova, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Romania, and the US Department of Energy.
On the third day of the conference, prosecutors from Romania presented the local legislative framework in the field of cybercrime and cross-border crime, as well as the specifics of the Romanian law enforcement system in the field of drug trafficking and online crime.
Together with the chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev, the participants also paid special attention to the trends in the field of international cooperation and the challenges facing the national systems for dealing with cross-border crime.
Emphasis was placed on several types of crime that the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia are fighting together.
Among them were countering the sexual exploitation of children in the virtual space, war crimes, in the context of the war in Ukraine, migrant trafficking, crimes in the digital environment, illegal cross-border trafficking of radioactive and nuclear materials, etc.
The forum also had a practical part, in which mobile equipment was presented, provided to the Directorate General of Border Police – Ministry of Internal Affairs of the US Department of Energy in the fight against the unregulated cross-border traffic of radioactive and nuclear materials by virtue of a memorandum of cooperation concluded between the two countries .
“The achievements of the Bulgarian security services in the form of the Main Directorate of the Border Police, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Fire and Emergency Safety Agency, the Nuclear Regulatory Agency, the Regional Health Inspectorate, working in sync, minimize the risk of cross-border traffic of nuclear materials and way, insofar as Bulgaria is an external border, protect the life and health of European citizens.
Achieving this synchronicity is a prerequisite for dealing with other crimes as well,” said Burgas appellate prosecutor Lyubomir Petrov.
He summarized the conclusions of the forum: “Crime has not been local for a long time. The digitalization observed on a global scale has led to the fact that crime does not have any limitations – territorial, ethnic, socio-economic, cultural-religious, age, subcultural, etc.
