JAKARTA: Indonesia and Sri Lanka have discussed deepening cooperation between the police forces of the two countries, especially in combatting human smuggling.
The discussion took place when the Indonesian Inspector General of Police, Tito Karnavian met with his Sri Lankan counterpart, Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara.
A team of senior police officers led by the Indonesian police chief is visiting Sri Lanka to attend a conference to be held at Kingsbury Hotel for high ranking police officials. The conference is held under the theme of “Future Policing Prospects and Challenges for South Asia” to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Sri Lanka police force.
General Tito in a written statement on Monday said the discussion especially focused on possible threats from ex-LTTE members who may have entered Indonesia as refugees or asylum seekers.
Indonesia’s Antara news reported that the visiting IGP was flanked by the head of the international relations division, the head of the public relations division, the head of Densus 88 anti-terrorist unit, and the director of general crimes of the crime investigation department.
Sri Lanka police commended the Indonesian IGP’s visit, saying that such activities will deepen bilateral relations and help to uplift the quality of the Police service of the two countries. Tito said the Sri Lanka police wished to learn from Polri (Indonesia’s national police) regarding handling of terrorists by Densus 88 and in the matter of dealing with other public security and order issues.
“An intensive communication is needed for information exchange, especially assistance from the SLP (Sri Lanka police) to identify suspects,” he stressed.
Tito pointed out that Indonesia is located strategically as a transit country for human smuggling. At the meeting, the two police chiefs agreed to increase cooperation, especially in the field of counter-terrorism, human smuggling and other transnational crimes.
They also agreed to cooperate in enhancing the skills of the police personnel in both the countries through a training program or courses at JCLEC (Jakarta Center for Law Enforcement Cooperation) investigation training center in the National Police Academy in Semarang, Central Java.
