Visa Free Travel For Interpol Police

The global network of police known as Interpol has began issuing special passports this week to senior investigators, in a bit to allow them to enter any of the group’s 188 countries without carrying visas.

The first countries to recognise the new travel documents include Pakistan and the Ukraine and three more will soon, according to Interpol Secretary-General Ronald K. Noble.

He said that he is confident that other member countries will honour the passports.

The new travel documents are aimed at ensuring that Interpol investigators, who are of various nationalities, reach the site of a natural disaster or a terrorist attack quickly without being delayed by bureaucratic red-tape.

The Lyon-based Interpol was founded in 1923 and is the world’s biggest international police network.  It facilitates cross-border police cooperation and focuses on fighting terrorism, trafficking of drugs, weapons, people smuggling and organised crime.

Samoa became the 188th member of Interpol on Tuesday.

The UN’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations police adviser Andrew Hughes said that Interpol could play a key role in the fighting of international crime syndicates.

He summed up by saying that on every front, whether it was capacity building, interim law enforcement or close operations support, the UN need the help of Interpol.