In its Annual Report for 2007, the European Law Enforcement Organisation (Europol) confirmed that its support of member states in identifying Islamic and other terrorist networks in the European Union remained a top priority.

In the report published on 16 July 2008, Europol identified the threat of terrorist groups and various forms of serious and organised crimes such as the trafficking of synthetic drugs, fraud and the smuggling and trafficking of people within the European Union as areas on which it placed particular emphasis.

Euro counterfeiting

As part of the operational project on euro counterfeiting in 2007, Europol successfully supported an investigation against a Colombian criminal network producing and distributing counterfeit banknotes. As a result of this operation, nine persons were arrested and hundreds of millions of counterfeited US dollars, Colombian pesos, Venezuelan bolivars and € 400,000 in counterfeit money, were seized.

Colombia is one of seven countries outside of the EU which has signed cooperation agreements with Europol. The other six countries are Australia, Canada, Iceland, Switzerland, Norway and the United States, which is represented by a number of law enforcement agencies.

From its headquarters in The Hague, Europol plays an integral role in supporting member states’ investigations and maintaining cooperation through the liaison bureaux in each of the 27 EU countries.

Press release
Europol Annual Report 2007