The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has established new partnerships with law enforcement agencies in China and Russia to combat cyber fraud, the illicit trafficking of fentanyl, the sexual exploitation of children, and other forms of transnational crime. FBI Director Kash Patelnya said this in an interview with Reuters, reports UNN.
Details
According to Patel, over the past year the FBI began cooperating with countries he called "nontraditional partners." The cooperation is selective and concerns only specific types of international crime.
As part of the cooperation, Chinese law enforcement representatives visited the United States, while FBI agents traveled to China to work jointly on criminal cases and exchange intelligence.
In addition, U.S. and Chinese law enforcement officers conducted joint raids, arrests, and search operations.
At the end of July, Patel visited Beijing. According to FBI representatives, a similar visit to Russia is tentatively scheduled for October.
"These are new relationships that are developing dynamically, and we are fully aware of their hostile approach on many issues. They are not going to abandon it, but if we can achieve victories for America, then we have to engage," Patel said.
The FBI calls these forms of cooperation "working groups." At the same time, they have raised concerns among U.S. counterintelligence officials because of the risks of transferring confidential information about domestic security to countries the United States considers strategic adversaries.
Joint Operations with China
According to the FBI director, cooperation with China covers four main areas: combating cyber fraud, violent crimes against children, drug trafficking, and the search for fugitives.
In May, the FBI, China’s Ministry of Public Security, and Dubai police conducted a joint operation against a cyber fraud center in the United Arab Emirates.
According to the FBI, about 300 people were detained as a result of the operation, $300 million was seized, and thousands of workers who had fallen victim to human trafficking were freed.
Also in June, Chinese law enforcement agencies, together with the FBI office in Omaha, dismantled an international network distributing material depicting the sexual abuse of children. Sixteen suspects were detained during the operation.
At least one suspect who was in China and accused of serious violent crimes was returned to the United States.
Cooperation on Fentanyl
The expansion of cooperation comes after many years of tensions between Washington and Beijing. U.S. authorities have repeatedly accused China of failing to adequately combat the production of chemical precursors used to manufacture the synthetic opioid fentanyl.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio cautiously assessed the results of this cooperation. According to him, the parties have made some progress on controlling fentanyl precursors, but the current results do not yet meet Washington’s expectations.
Patel said that the model of cooperation with China and Russia could later be applied to cooperation with other countries, adapting it to specific threats.
"The fact that we did this with China, when everyone was saying: "Don’t do it" and "You won’t be able to do it," shows what we can achieve in cooperation with almost anyone," the FBI director noted.