It's shared information on a new type of drug concealment seen in Melbourne that leads to the smashing of a drug cartel in Chile and arrests in Spain.
It's a report of utes stolen in Sydney that opens further investigative avenues when the same vehicles turn up in Sudan.
It's taking control of a ransomware dark web site to target and disrupt ransomware and share thousands of intelligence packages to 33 countries to assist victims.
And it's how an Australian teenager who leaves the country is found after she was lured to meet with a child sex offender and convicted killer in the United States.
Every day, police across Australia investigate literally thousands of incidents, and any one of them could reveal a key piece of information that cracks a case on the other side of the world.
It all comes down to the power of relationships, including the AFP's work with foreign agencies, such as INTERPOL, the world's largest international police organisation, and EUROPOL, which supports European Union (EU) and non-EU countries to tackle serious international crime.
AFP Commander Kate Ferry said the AFP's remit to protect Australia, both domestically and from threats to our interests overseas, was not a role played in isolation.
"In an ever-changing world, where international borders are becoming even more blurred to the criminal underworld, cross-border collaboration is more important than ever," Commander Ferry said.
"Disrupting international criminal syndicates and bringing perpetrators to justice requires meaningful and trusted international networks.
"Aided by technological advancements, criminal activity is increasingly borderless in our modern world, presenting challenges for law enforcement globally.
"Our work in tandem with INTERPOL and EUROPOL is key to how the AFP and our partners can combat these challenges and ensure a safer world."
Commander Ferry said the AFP's partnerships and access to global data and intelligence networks had led to major arrests in areas such as drug trafficking and human exploitation.
"As investigators, we never know what is going to be critical information that cracks a case," Commander Ferry said. "Any intelligence, big or small, could be the key piece to solving a major crime, either here in Australia, or on the other side of the world. This is the value of these partnerships.
"Australia is a safer country because of our partnerships with INTERPOL and EUROPOL."
Australia is one of 196 INTERPOL member nations, all with domestic law enforcement agencies that feed data and intelligence in daily to cast a global net over criminal activity.
The AFP supports local and national agencies and our communities by working with foreign partners through INTERPOL channels on investigations relating to urgent welfare and threats to life; suspect individuals, groups and organisations from foreign countries; tracking movements of fugitives internationally; circulation of INTERPOL Notices globally, including alerts for wanted or criminally active offenders, missing persons and unidentified bodies; and even lost or stolen artwork.
INTERPOL and the AFP also partner on major international disasters and serious crime issues affecting Australia, including disaster victim identification following major incidents such as the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in South-East Asia, terrorist attacks including the 2002 Bali bombings, child exploitation, cybercrime, and organised crime.
As an operational partner of EUROPOL, meanwhile, Australia contributes to transnational intelligence projects and operational investigative outcomes specific to crime types, including terrorism, child sexual exploitation, drug investigations, human trafficking, cybercrime, and financial and economic offences.
Both relationships allow for the exchange of information and intelligence, as well as closer engagement in cross-border operations throughout Europe and the world, which can culminate in multi-agency searches and arrests against high-value, international criminals.
These relationships are further strengthened by directly working in tandem. The AFP hosts Australia's INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB) in its Canberra headquarters, as well as having a member embedded in Lyon, France.
The Australian National Contact Point for EUROPOL is also based in Canberra, working closely with AFP officers stationed at EUROPOL's base of operations in The Hague in The Netherlands. Here, they work within operational task forces, the Joint Action Cybercrime Taskforce, engage bilaterally with country representatives on thousands of operational and intelligence enquiries and leverage off the powerful analytical capabilities available to the European Union and its other partners.
There are myriad examples of how the connections have paid dividends, including the below:
CASE STUDIES
Red Notice flags international fugitive as Victoria Police applicant
When an INTERPOL Red Notice (extradition) was put out for one of the most wanted persons in the US, who was sought for offences relating to global arms trafficking to conflict zones, the AFP searched and recorded the fingerprints from the notice and identified that the man had applied for a job with Victoria Police under a different identity. Further enquiries revealed he had been in Australia for two years without identification. Following engagement between Australian and US authorities he was arrested on a Provisional Arrest Warrant and extradited to the US in 2013.
Collaboration leads to extradition of alleged sex offender from Spain
In 2021, INTERPOL Canberra facilitated the issue of a global information-seeking INTERPOL Blue Notice on behalf on ACT Policing, seeking information on a suspected child sex offender believed to be in Spain. Enquiries eventually identified that the person been arrested in Spain in 2022 for a sex offence and that he was known to be in Spain. Formal approvals through the Commonwealth Attorney General's Department progressed to support and approve the issue of an INTERPOL Red Notice to seek the extradition of the subject in 2024. The publication of the Red Notice and then cooperation between AFP (ACT Policing, INTERPOL Canberra, Fugitive Team, International Liaison officers), Attorney General's Department, and Spanish law enforcement and judicial authorities resulted in the arrest of the subject. INTERPOL Canberra then assisted arrangements for the extradition surrender and transfer of the subject from Spain to Australia in December 2024. The alleged offender recently faced court in the ACT for a preliminary hearing in April 2025.
Purple Notice on cocaine in machine parts leads to international arrests
After AFP Melbourne identified a woman importing 15kg of cocaine inside machine parts, case officers created an INTERPOL Purple Notice (methodology advice) to describe the concealment. This was circulated globally and, as a direct result, Chilean authorities started Operación Melbourne to investigate a syndicate operating out of Chile and Colombia that was targeting countries including Canada, Spain and Australia. Chilean authorities subsequently advised the arrest of the syndicate's financier and head, operational lead, and logistical coordinator, with other arrests in Spain and the identification of other concealment methods - ultimately resulting in many more seizures of narcotics.
Australian girl found before linking up with known killer and sex offender
In 2017, a 16-year-old Australian girl flew out of Sydney for Los Angeles, USA, without her parents' permission. She was reported missing to NSW Police, which requested assistance from INTERPOL Canberra. Within hours, INTERPOL Washington was working with INTERPOL Canberra and the New York Police Department (NYPD) to locate the girl. She was found within a few days and taken into the care of members of the NYPD and US Homeland Security. Investigations revealed an adult man in the US had sent money to the girl and allegedly convinced her to travel to the US to engage in illicit sexual activity. The man, who had a lengthy criminal history - including a conviction for criminally negligent homicide - was arrested, convicted, and ultimately sentenced to 35 years in prison over the incident.
Australian fugitive located in Brazil after more than 20 years on the run
In 2018, a number of pedestrians on a footpath were run over by a vehicle in Brazil. Among the victims identified by Brazilian authorities, through his passport, was an Australian man who had lived there for more than 20 years. The passport and name used were found to be false, and initial facial imagery and fingerprint checks undertaken through NCB Canberra yielded no results. Brazilian police identified an additional passport and name for the man, which was also false.
After Brazilian authorities provided higher-quality fingerprints, he was identified as an Australian who had significant criminal history for child abuse and sexual assault matters in the Northern Territory before he disappeared in 1996 while on parole. He was also wanted in Victoria on further historic child sex assaults from the early 1980s. The man was not recorded as departing Australia, and it is not known whether he continued to offend in the 22 years he was on the run. He did not however, face court, over these incidents, as he died as a result of injuries suffered in the footpath collision.
Vehicles stolen in Sydney turn up in Sudan
INTERPOL NCBs engage in various cross border information sharing and training on platforms such as the Stolen Motor Vehicle (SMV) database. In 2021, NCB Canberra was notified by NCB Khartoum, Sudan, that multiple vehicles identified there were recorded by Australia as stolen. This resulted in identification of four utes as moving from Sydney to Sudan. Relevant intelligence was pursued to support any future seizures.
Further measures taken against Lockbit ransomware
After law enforcement seized control of the Lockbit ransomware group's leak site on the dark web, it was redesigned to host articles exposing actions taken against the group. Its administrator and developer, a Russian national, is now subject to asset freezes and travel bans and Europol efforts have now coordinated the identification and dissemination of 3,500 victim intelligence packages. With victims in 33 countries around the world including Australia, the AFP has worked closely with Europol and other partners as part of Operation Cronos.
Take downs of the largest cybercrime forums in the world
Australia worked with foreign partners in Europol's Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce towards a day of action when two cybercrime platforms were taken down. The platforms called Cracked and Nulled had more than 10 million members combined and were used to pursue cybercrime as a service with stolen data, malware and hacking tools to target victims globally. Resulting in arrests, servers/devices and cash/cryptocurrencies being seized - this was another example of collaborative efforts by law enforcement effecting clear beneficial outcomes for communities.
As these case studies show, the AFP's ability to collect, disseminate, receive and tap into local intelligence globally has a powerful role to play in keeping Australia safe.
