On May 13, 2024, the ASEANAPOL Secretariat, in partnership with the Royal Malaysia Police and Freeland, held the final TRIPOD II RoundTable meeting in Alor Setar, Kedah, Malaysia. The ASEANAPOL Secretariat was represented by Superintendent Azrul Hisham B. Mohd Sahhei, DSP Suresh Subramaniam, and other secretariat personnel under the supervision of Executive Director David Martinez Vinluan. The RMP was represented by SAC Dato Pahlawan Supramaniam Ramasamy, and Freeland by Mr. Steven Galster.
The meeting involved 30 vetted officers (9 women and 21 men) from 15 Malaysian agencies, including International Relations, Marine Police, Anti-Money Laundering, Wildlife Crime Bureau, General Operation Force, Air Operation Force, INTERPOL (Royal Malaysia Police), Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP), Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC), Inland Revenue Board Malaysia (IRBM), Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RCMD), Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), DWNP (Legal), and Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA). Facilitated by Freeland and supported by the ASEANAPOL Secretariat, the RoundTable established the framework for future project activities and cooperative efforts.
Freeland organized these strategic RoundTable discussions to address and preemptively deter any potential revival of illegal wildlife trafficking activities in the area. During the discussions, participating agencies deliberated on challenges, opportunities, interagency cooperation, cross-border collaboration, and strategies to combat wildlife trafficking in the border region. Input was gathered from various agencies to design the Counter Transnational Organized Crime (C-TOC) capacity-building program and Special Investigation Group (SIG) meetings, scheduled for future quarters of this project.
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), these RoundTable discussions are a key component of the TRIPOD II (Targeting Regional Investigations and Policing Opportunities for Development II) Project.
“Together We Keep This Region Safe”