CONNECTED AGAINST CRIME
A suspected trafficker can cross a border in hours. A recruitment message can reach a potential victim almost instantly. Money, identities and criminal instructions can pass through several jurisdictions before an investigation has established where the network began. The increasingly international and digital character of organised crime means that the effectiveness of law enforcement often depends on whether information can move almost as quickly as the criminals themselves.
The United Nations designated 15 November as the International Day for the Prevention of and Fight against All Forms of Transnational Organized Crime in 2024, partly to reinforce international cooperation against offences ranging from trafficking in people, firearms and drugs to money laundering, migrant smuggling and environmental crime. The UN also highlights the growing online component of organised criminal activity, including the use of virtual assets.
That breadth makes interoperability more than a technical question. It concerns whether different authorities can recognise the same threat, exchange usable intelligence and coordinate action across institutional and national boundaries.
Operation Global Chain Puts Cooperation Into Practice
Operation Global Chain offered a recent demonstration of that model. Conducted from 8 to 12 June 2026 and announced by INTERPOL on 6 July, the operation involved law enforcement agencies in 59 countries across Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe. It identified 2,070 potential trafficking victims, led to the arrest of 1,024 suspects and triggered 465 investigations.
The operation was led by authorities in Austria and Romania and co-coordinated by INTERPOL, Europol, Frontex and Ameripol. Police officers, border authorities and specialist anti-trafficking units carried out checks at airports, border crossings, transport hubs and locations identified through investigations as trafficking hotspots.
The coordination behind those actions was as significant as their scale. Participating countries exchanged intelligence in real time through INTERPOL's I-24/7 secure communications network alongside Europol and Ameripol channels. Border checks generated matches against existing INTERPOL Notices, while two international command centres in Skopje and Rio de Janeiro supported operational briefings, analysis and direct communication between participating countries.
The structure reflected the reality of the threat. Victims identified during the operation originated from 45 countries, while investigations uncovered forms of exploitation ranging from forced labour and sexual exploitation to forced criminal activity and coerced begging.
Making Information Useful At The Border
International databases have limited operational value if the officer encountering a suspect, document or vehicle cannot access them when a decision has to be made.
INTERPOL's I-24/7 network allows national police forces to access criminal databases containing information including identities, fingerprints, stolen travel documents, vehicles, firearms and other crime-related records. Access can extend beyond National Central Bureaus to specialist units and frontline border officials.
For border agencies, that connection can turn a routine control into part of a much wider investigation. A passport checked at an airport or land crossing may relate to information entered thousands of kilometres away. A wanted person, stolen identity document or vehicle may only become visible when national systems can rapidly interrogate international records.
European cooperation increasingly follows the same principle. Europol's Secure Information Exchange Network Application, SIENA, enables operational and strategic crime information to circulate securely between competent authorities. In 2025, more than 190,000 new cases were initiated through SIENA and more than 2.14 million messages were exchanged. More than 3,770 competent authorities from 57 countries and 16 international organisations were configured to use the platform.
Interoperability therefore depends on more than connecting databases. Secure communications, common procedures, access permissions and the ability to identify relevant information among enormous volumes of data all influence whether cooperation produces an operational result.
From Police Cooperation To A Multi-Agency Response
Organised crime rarely presents itself neatly as a police matter. Labour exploitation can initially resemble a regulatory infringement. Trafficking can intersect with immigration controls, financial crime, online recruitment, document fraud and legitimate businesses used to conceal illicit activity.
That increasingly requires cooperation beyond conventional police structures. On 2 September 2026, Europol and the European Labour Authority signed a Working Arrangement formalising their cooperation against labour exploitation, trafficking in human beings, fraud and related organised crime, including a framework for the exchange of strategic information.
The international legal framework also anticipates this need for cooperation. The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime provides mechanisms covering mutual legal assistance, law enforcement cooperation and joint investigations. UN guidance notes that operational police-to-police contact can provide rapid exchanges of information, while formal judicial channels remain essential where evidence must ultimately support prosecution.
The challenge is consequently to connect speed with due process. Intelligence may need to move rapidly enough to intercept a suspect or protect a victim, but subsequent investigative and judicial action must remain compatible with national law, data-protection requirements and evidential standards.
Building A Common Operational Picture
The fight against transnational organised crime increasingly rests on the ability to assemble fragments held by different organisations into a coherent picture. A border crossing, financial transaction, online account and police report may each appear insignificant in isolation. Combined across jurisdictions, they can reveal a network.
Technology can accelerate that process, but effective interoperability remains partly organisational. Liaison officers, joint command structures, common operational plans and trusted professional relationships provide the human framework within which secure platforms and databases operate.
That combination will remain central as criminal organisations adopt new digital tools and move between physical and online environments. The security technologies presented at Milipol Paris, from border management and communications systems to data protection, systems integration and law-enforcement solutions, sit directly within this operational challenge. The next edition, from 16 to 19 November 2027 at Paris Nord Villepinte, will provide another international meeting point for the agencies, specialists and technology providers working to ensure that borders between institutions do not become advantages for organised crime.