Worldwide attack on crime

Lawyers will work more closely in the future to catch and convict global drug pushers, money launderers and smuggling gangs, after the adoption of a strategy last week in London by a group of international prosecutors.

The International Association of Prosecutors (IAP) - the only such forum, whose members are drawn from 90 countries - considered the plan at its annual conference, held in London for the first time since the IAP was founded in 1995.

The plan will create a global network of serious crime experts and prosecutors; establish a task force for mutual assistance, judicial co-operation and extradition; draft an international charter for victims and witnesses, and ensure that prosecutors have a greater input into the development of national and international policy initiatives and legal frameworks.

Lord Goldsmith QC, the Attorney- General, recommended the plan to the conference, saying that international prosecutors must respond to the estimated 1 trillion lost globally to money launderers.

He said: 'Criminals are quick to adapt to opportunities and challenges, using sophisticated techniques and modern technology.

Where prosecutors and investigators have to respect national legal systems and boundaries, criminals exploit them.

To counter them law enforcement agencies have to match them.'

Lord Goldsmith said it was significant that the plan was agreed a year after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, 'and a demonstration of the enhanced international co-operation that has existed since that date.'

David Calvert-Smith, the director of public prosecutions, told the conference; 'We will go away with fresh resolve to remove the barriers between us and to stamp out the activities of those evildoers who would bring misery to millions.'

Jeremy Fleming