Regional: Advancing Financial Disruption Skills in Combatting Organized Crime

27 February – 07 March, Mostar and Konjic, Bosnia and Hercegovina - In a bid to fortify the collective defenses of Member States against criminal threats stemming from organized crime, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) conducted a series of comprehensive training courses to enhance participants' skills in combating money laundering (ML) and disrupting organized crime groups (OCGs).

The Financial Disruption courses, held from February 28th to March 7th, 2024, aimed to equip law enforcement officials, FiUs, and representatives from the Prosecutor‘s offices with advanced techniques and strategies to enable participating member states to detect, investigate, disrupt, and prosecute illicit financial flows both nationally and across borders. 30 participants from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia participated in back-to-back regional trainings.

The Financial Disruption course held from February 28th to March 1st, 2024, in Mostar, focused on equipping participants with practical skills to combat money laundering and disrupt criminal activities effectively. The agenda encompassed various sessions aimed at providing a comprehensive understanding of money laundering, its regulations, and the tools for disruption as well as applying learned concepts to real-world scenarios through practical exercises. The Financial Disruption course equipped participants with valuable skills and knowledge to combat money laundering effectively and disrupt criminal networks,  such as identifying and understanding money laundering techniques, analyzing vulnerabilities in financial systems and developing disruption strategies, utilizing expert witnesses and leveraging sources of information for law enforcement.

The Enhanced Financial Disruption Course, conducted from March 4th to March 7th, 2024, focused on advancing participants' skills in combating money laundering (ML) and disrupting organized crime groups (OCGs). The course focused on exploring parallel financial investigations, analyzing the use of cryptocurrency in ML, and understanding international controller networks (ICN). Overall, the Enhanced Financial Disruption Course equipped participants with advanced skills and knowledge to enhance their effectiveness in combating money laundering and disrupting organized crime groups, with a focus on analyzing parallel financial investigations and utilizing financial profiles, identifying indicators of effectiveness in disrupting criminal activities, fostering international cooperation and law enforcement efforts. A big portion of the 4-day training was dedicated problem-solving and international case studies as well as group exercises to develop comprehensive disruption planning schemes.

The courses are part of a regional project funded by the Swiss confederation and implemented by the UNODC’s Global Programme against Money Laundering, proceeds of Crime and the Financing of Terrorism (GPML).