Senior police officers from 49 countries met in Tel Aviv on Tuesday to kick off a three-day, high profile Interpol conference.

The delegates will discuss international law enforcement cooperation against cyber and organized crime, human and narcotics trafficking, and terrorism among other issues.

Interpol President Khoo Boon Hui told delegates, “We are all too aware that the terrorists and organized crime groups are quick to take advantage of sophisticated tools that exploit vulnerabilities.”

“Here in Israel alone, a reported number of over 1,000 cyber-attacks take place every minute,” he added.

Internet-based crime costs countries more than all drug trafficking combined, Hui said, adding that European countries lose a total of 750 billion euros a year due to cyber crime. Targets include global financial institutions, state institutions and even the Interpol website, he said.

Ronald K. Noble, secretarygeneral of Interpol, told delegates, “I am very happy to be with you here today in the amazing city of Tel Aviv... I take this opportunity to thank our Israeli hosts for their outstanding organization and warm reception.”

Noble said that Interpol’s acceptance of a request by Israel to allow the country to move to the European region from the Asian region in 2006 was the “right decision,” adding, “We are reaping the benefits of this decision today.”

He went on to say: “I certainly do not need to convince anyone in this room that crime has become inherently transnational and can touch our citizens from any country in the world where the Internet is in use.”

“What is more, the Internet also facilitates the dissemination of violent, extreme and radical ideologies, enabling radical leaders to reach friendly ears right in our communities and in all corners of the world,” he warned, citing the recent terrorist attacks in Toulouse, France, in which three Jewish children, a rabbi and two soldiers were murdered.

Israel Police Commissioner Insp.-Gen. Yohanan Danino welcomed his counterparts to Israel, urging them to enjoy their stay.

Danino later said that he hoped French authorities would answer Israel’s request and arrest the two French nationals who ran over and killed 25-year-old Lee Zeitouni in Tel Aviv last September.

The men fled the scene after hitting Zeitouni, driving recklessly through red lights, according to police.

They then packed suitcases, gathered family members and fled to Paris.

“We remain in close touch with the French authorities, with the aim of extraditing the murderers. I hope that France answers our request despite French law not having an extradition agreement.

We will find the legal way to get over the obstacles and bring about the arrest of the two,” Danino said.

Ch.-Supt. Galia Batz, who heads Israel’s Interpol liaison office at national police headquarters in Jerusalem, told The Jerusalem Post that one of Israel’s first decisions as a sovereign country was to join Interpol in 1949.

Today, Batz’s staff instantly share information, issue international arrest warrants and receive such warrants through Interpol’s secure Internet network, which connects the Israel Police to the other 189 Interpol members, she added.

“We get 20,000 requests and messages from other police forces a year,” Batz said.

“My department’s role is growing with time. We deal with sensitive cases, such as kidnapped children, coordinating rescue efforts in natural disasters and working with other police forces to capture fugitives,” she added.

Batz said several countries that are not from Interpol’s European region are also participating, including delegates from Africa, the Far East and the US. “It shows the excellent cooperation that we have,” she said. (© 1995-2011, The Jerusalem Post 05/09/12)