PROJECT PACIFIC

PCTC conducted the 1^st Project Pacific Working Group Meeting held at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel, Mandaluyong City on 18-19 March 2004. This two-day activity was attended by more or less forty (40) participants from the South East Asian countries and the Pacific Region. Project Pacific, as one of the projects under Interpol’s Fusion Task Force was aimed at enhancing police cooperation at the regional level to address the growing threat of terrorism and to intensify the intelligence exchange of information between and among states in Asia and the Pacific Region.

On Day One, presentations made by the delegates from the Philippines, Spain and the IPSG focused on the following:

a) Analysis of the trends and financing resources of terrorism;

b) Identifying criminal groups involved in international terrorists’ activity;

c) Review of the increasing threat of terror on the cosmopolitan frontage;

d) Assessment of emerging radical extremist groups in Asia-Pacific; and

e) Analytical overview of terrorists’ organizational structure, methods of training, ideology, modes of recruitment and attacks.

Also discussed were Project Pacific’s future plan in anticipation to the rising cases involving Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and the role of the Fusion Task Force in relation to the war against terrorism.

On Day Two, salient features of the discussion included:

a) Assessment of the AL-QAEDA network;

b) Identifying mode of attacks funding sources and recruitment process;

c) Terrorists’ travel paths; and

d) Terrorism in Spain, Pakistan and Israel.

An overview of the Interpol’s Project Tent and Project Passage was also presented by IPSG. Project Tent focused its main concern on identifying terrorists’ training camps, members, and potential targets. On the other hand, Project Passage aimed to unmask organized crime groups and terrorist organizations in the forging of passports and other travel documents to facilitate cross border entry.

At the end of the conference, the delegates agreed on the following recommendations:

a) Exercise of best practices in law enforcement;

b) Establishment of standard guidelines on analysis and threat assessment;

c) Development of analytical courses;

d) Regular updating of the database;

e) Intensifying inter-state cooperation;

f) Enhancement of law enforcers’ skills and capacity in the field of intelligence networking thru conduct of rigorous trainings;

g) Deployment of people with sufficient analytical capability to sub-regional offices;

i) Good sharing of information using the working language (English); and

j) Updating the database on NGO-related travel records and other pertinent information regarding the people involved on the said organization.