Ahern Calls For Greater EU Cooperation To Combat Criminal Gangs

Speaking at an EU summit on gang crime in Stockholm, Minister Ahern said greater co-operation among Member States would assist greatly in tackling the growing threat of organised gangs.

The Minister said: "Police and customs cooperation must be improved to take on the fight against organised crime and terrorism.

"It is vital that EU law enforcement services can share information speedily and that Cross border systems are linked and compatible. We do have appropriate data constraints in place but we can't allow our police and customs officers to operate with one hand tied behind their back.

"From my talks in Stockholm among Ministerial colleagues, there is great concern at the escalation of the use of firearms by criminals. We need to work more closely to cut off the supply of firearms.

"Another key area is criminal assets recovery. We must also across the EU  build and develop measures to recover criminal assets. And cybercrime has become a major problem. We must tackle cybercrime in all its forms, including hacking, economic crime and the insidious crime of exploitation of children through the internet."