Caribbean nations must boost judicial cooperation with European counterparts if they are to dismantle sophisticated transnational criminal networks, a senior United Nations official in the region said on Wednesday.

Deputy Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Stephanie Ziebell, told a workshop on Caribbean-European Union judicial cooperation through EUROJUST Focal Points at Hotel Indigo, Hastings, that cross-border collaboration has become essential in combating modern crime.

“Today’s criminal threats do not respect borders,” she said, noting that organised crime, financial crime, cyber-enabled offences and other forms of transnational criminal activity increasingly require countries to work together.