Enhancing the ability of law enforcement to investigate cyber-enabled human trafficking was the focus of a regional table-top exercise organized by the Rwanda National Police (RNP) and INTERPOL. 

Gathering some 90 participants from more than 30 countries, the five-day Exercise Cyber Tracks focused on three areas: cyber-enabled crime and digital forensics; the use of INTERPOL’s global policing capabilities; and investigations into human trafficking and gender-based and sexual violence. 

The transnational training exercise was designed by INTERPOL together with the RNP to combine classroom teaching and practical implementation of newly acquired skills during a simulated investigation. 

Participants at the table-top exercise used criminal investigation methodology and skills learned in training to address the practical challenges necessary to undertake cybercrime investigations.  

“This exercise undertaken jointly with the RNP is unique as it focuses on two distinctly different yet related areas: human trafficking, a particularly pernicious crime that preys on the most vulnerable members of society, and cyber-enabled crime, which underpins all forms of crime,” said Noboru Nakatani, Executive Director of the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI) in Singapore.  

With the internet presenting fast-growing opportunities for a range of cyber-enabled crimes, including financial crime, a joint operation this summer by INTERPOL and the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crime Commission saw the arrest in Nigeria of the alleged head of an international criminal network behind thousands of online frauds worth more than USD $60 million and involving victims worldwide.