1-5 August 2022 – The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime for Central America and the Caribbean (UNODC ROPAN) under the framework of CRIMJUST – “Criminal Network Disruption Global Programme” and Cybercrime conducted a continuation of the training on cyber elements of drug trafficking and open sources investigation (OSINT) for investigators and prosecutors from Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, and the Dominican Republic.
The main objective of the training was to enhance the understanding on the use of the digital technologies with hands-on exercises designed to provide law enforcement and judiciary officers with the tools and training necessary to investigate and prosecute cyber aspects of drug trafficking.
Sylvie Bertrand, Regional Representative of UNODC ROPAN opened the training by recognizing the timely and relevant nature of such training while also acknowledging the particular security problems brought by the proliferation of online platforms and technologies .Alberto Menghini, Chief of Cooperation of the European Union Delegation for Costa Rica and Panama, then emphasized that the training is part of a broader effort to promote regional cooperation between criminal justice agencies to discuss emerging online modus operandi and to share digital evidence across borders.
The training included advanced sessions regarding cybercrime, digital evidence, digital forensic analysis, introduction to open-source investigation, dark web, crypto assets, best forensic practices, and due process in the investigation of crime facilitated by digital technologies, and requests for evidence from foreign technology companies. Finally, participants discussed the unique challenges they face in this type of investigations.
This capacity-building activity provided criminal justice practitioners with the fundamental knowledge, tools, and understanding to monitor, detect and investigate illicit drug transactions and prosecute cyber-enabled drug trafficking.
CRIMJUST is funded by the European Union and by the US Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL). It seeks to enhance law enforcement and judicial counter-narcotic strategies beyond interdiction activities and to foster transnational responses targeting each stage of the drug supply chain.
For more information:
- Global Illicit Flows Programme of the European Union (GIFP)
- Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL)
