Pedro, an American national, was a habitual and cunning criminal.

He smuggled narcotics, exploited women through prostitution and had set up a money-laundering network between Europe and America using wire transfers to minimise risk of detection. He thought he was untouchable, but a European police force had been monitoring his activities for some time. Their investigation suggested that Pedro could have had a criminal record in America. The European police force contacted the American FIU and asked if Pedro could be checked against the American financial and criminal databases. Although the FIU did not find any financial intelligence, it did discover that an individual using Pedro’s name and identity details was wanted for murder in America.

Since an absolutely positive match was necessary before extradition could be considered, the European police force also electronically forwarded to the FIU a photograph of Pedro obtained from his residency permit. Within minutes, the FIU forwarded the received photograph to the American law enforcement agency. There was a positive identification match.

With permission from both sides, the FIU was then able to put the European police force in direct contact with American law enforcement officials. An international arrest warrant was co-ordinated through both Interpol and the Ministry of Justice in the Americas. When the arrest warrant was received, Pedro was located and arrested by the European police force. Pedro is currently awaiting extradition to America. The entire process from the original request to the FIU to Pedro’s arrest took only eight days. The FIU had expedited the identification and arrest of an international criminal.