Image: Vanuatu Daily Post Vanuatu was admitted to INTERPOL in November 2018. This will assist the police in sharing and receiving vital policing information instantly from around the world in relation to crimes such as human trafficking, drug smuggling, cybercrime and terrorism. It will also be a major and much-needed step forward in conducting background checks on a range of people seeking Vanuatu citizenship, wishing to do business with Vanuatu, or entering the country for other reasons. good governance. With crime becoming increasingly complex and global, there is a need for increased cooperation with partners, to share information and intelligence and to respond collaboratively. Organised crime is on the increase in the Pacific Islands, as criminals seek to exploit the region’s vulnerabilities – long and porous maritime borders, patchy law enforcement capabilities, and a geographic location between major sources and destinations of illicit materials, principally narcotics. This growth has taken place despite improved awareness, cooperation and operational responses by law enforcement agencies in the region. Regionally, the main transnational criminal activity has involved narcotics smuggling (principally transhipment to Australia and New Zealand), illegal fishing, arms smuggling, money laundering, human trafficking, and cybercrime, increasingly with criminals from outside the region seeking to develop partnerships with Pacific Islanders. The largest ever drug seizure in the region was in 2013 in Port Vila from this yacht while in transit to Australia. 750 kilograms of cocaine worth approximately AUD$370 million was seized, following collaboration between Australia, the US, Vanuatu, the Cook Islands, New Caledonia and Tonga. 29