18 Dec 2018

Cooks police want regional communication over deportees

8:34 am on 18 December 2018

Law enforcement agencies in the Pacific must work with their international counterparts to police criminals deported to their birth countries, according to the Cook Islands Police Minister.

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Photo: RNZI / Sally Round

Opposition MP Selina Napa said earlier that local communities should have been warned that a man who allegedly burgled and burned homes and businesses in Rarotonga had earlier been deported from Australia.

The Police Minister Mac Mokoroa has now called for better communication between police in the region along with Immigration and Customs departments.

"It's also a regional and international issue that needs to be discussed with the relevant entities both in New Zealand and Australia so that everybody comes to the same table or comes to the same agreement in addressing these kind of issues, " Mac Mokoroa said.