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Law enforcement cooperation ramps up in US-affiliated islands

Washington, D.C. — Law enforcement cooperation between the United States and its affiliated islands in the north Pacific will expand as the US Federal Bureau of Investigation has assigned a special agent to be responsible for liaising with the three freely associated states (FAS).

Law enforcement cooperation between the United States and the Marshall Islands "is striking" and extremely broad in the many areas it covers, said US Ambassador Karen Stewart at a recent event in Majuro to honor cooperation between the islands and the US.

The FBI has worked with island law enforcement officials for decades. But for the first time, it has now assigned a special agent to coordinate investigations, training and other activities with law enforcement counterparts in the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia and Palau. The FBI special agent is to be based in Guam.

Ms Stewart announced the FBI plan late last month during a ceremony to recognize Marshall Islands-US law enforcement cooperation, and US officials said the newly assigned agent would be making his first visit to the islands later this month. At the ceremony, MS Stewart delivered FBI recognition awards to Marshall Islands Attorney General Filimon Manoni and Ministry of Finance officials Itibo Taufinga and Ruben Zackhras, Jr for their "excellent cooperation."

In July 2017, Guam-based FBI agents assisted with crime scene evidence collection following a double murder in Majuro. An FBI laboratory processed evidence from the crime scene and FBI agents came to Majuro in January this year to testify in the prosecution of the teenager accused of the double homicide. He was later found guilty and sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Late last year, the FBI requested help from the Marshall Islands to open and photograph the contents of a shipping container in Majuro that held a damaged helicopter belonging to Hansen Helicopters of Guam. Majuro officials later confiscated the container despite objections from Hansen officials so it could be shipped to Guam for investigation by the FBI. Hansen owners and top executives were recently charged by US federal prosecutors on Guam with multiple felonies for wire fraud and falsifying helicopter safety documentation.

Because of drug trafficking activity in the region, the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is also expected to assign an agent to have coordination responsibility for the FAS, according to US officials in Majuro.

The DEA was recently in Majuro "on a very successful trip, and they have said that they will be back at least twice a year to conduct training, and cooperate on investigations," Ms Stewart said. "Both FBI and DEA have committed dedicated resources to the Marshall Islands, and the FBI is in the process of hiring an agent who will be assigned to investigations and training just for the Compact States."

Ms Stewart also highlighted US-FAS cooperation on maritime surveillance and security, port security, and search and rescue missions.

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