Cybercrime: Police to equip Interpol unit for better service delivery

The Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, on Monday, said efforts were being made to equip the International Police (INTERPOL) unit with what it takes for a better service delivery.

Idris made this disclosure at the INTERPOL Cybercrime training for Practitioner Investigators from African countries in Abuja.

He was represented by Hyacinth Dagala, the deputy Inspector-General of Police, Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department.

The IG said the training was critical to boosting capacities in the fields of IP crime enquiries, identity fraud, online tracking of suspects, electronic crime scene investigation, among others.

Idris said that because of the international nature of most cybercrime offences, the police had set up and deployed a dedicated high-tech and cybercrime unit in the INTERPOL in Nigeria.

In the future, he said the experienced members of the unit would be deployed in the state police commands, where the cybercrime offences were prevalent.

Idris said that the police had established and maintained a high-tech criminal information system to enable the police to cooperate with other internal law enforcement agencies.

The police chief urged the participants to avail themselves of the opportunities that the training presented.

Earlier, the head of INTERPOL, National Central Bureau, CP Olusshola Subair, said investigating offences in the cyberspace had assumed a major policing requirement in Nigeria and Africa in general.

“Cyber criminals have enjoyed a long start ahead of law enforcement and inflicted serious injuries on citizens we have sworn to protect.

“We must in turn develop new ways and methods to adapt to current challenges,” he said.

He assured that the capacities of the Nigeria Police would soon assume more effective and efficient level.

In a remark, Wei Tee, the acting head of Training unit, Digital Investigating Support-Cybercrime Directorate, Singapore, urged the trainees to come up with good strategies to combat cyber-crime.

He said that no country could fight cybercrime, which was a transnational crime, without the collaboration of other countries.

“There is no one country that can fight against this crime by itself, so we encourage all countries to come together,” he said.

Tee noted that the crime was an uprising trend globally.

In attendance were participants from South Sudan, Zambia, Cameroun, Guinea Bissau and Nigeria. (NAN)