CANBERRA, ACT, May 5 -- Australian Federal Police issued the following media release:

Editor's note: Image and audio grabs available via Hightail.

It's shared information on a new type of drug concealment seen in Melbourne that leads to the smashing of a drug cartel in Chile and arrests in Spain.

It's a report of utes stolen in Sydney that opens further investigative avenues when the same vehicles turn up in Sudan.

It's taking control of a ransomware dark web site to target and disrupt ransomware and share thousands of intelligence packages to 33 countries to assist victims.

And it's how an Australian teenager who leaves the country is found after she was lured to meet with a child sex offender and convicted killer in the United States.

Every day, police across Australia investigate literally thousands of incidents, and any one of them could reveal a key piece of information that cracks a case on the other side of the world.

It all comes down to the power of relationships, including the AFP's work with foreign agencies, such as INTERPOL, the world's largest international police organisation, and EUROPOL, which supports European Union (EU) and non-EU countries to tackle serious international crime.

AFP Commander Kate Ferry said the AFP's remit to protect Australia, both domestically and from threats to our interests overseas, was not a role played in isolation.

"In an ever-changing world, where international borders are becoming even more blurred to the criminal underworld, cross-border collaboration is more important than ever," Commander Ferry said.

"Disrupting international criminal syndicates and bringing perpetrators to justice requires meaningful and trusted international networks.

"Aided by technological advancements, criminal activity is increasingly borderless in our modern world, presenting challenges for law enforcement globally.

"Our work in tandem with INTERPOL and EUROPOL is key to how the AFP and our partners can combat these challenges and ensure a safer world."

Commander Ferry said the AFP's partnerships and access to global data and intelligence networks had led to major arrests in areas such as drug trafficking and human exploitation.

"As investigators, we never know what is going to be critical information that cracks a case," Commander Ferry said. "Any intelligence, big or small, could be the key piece to solving a major crime, either here in Australia, or on the other side of the world. This is the value of these partnerships.

"Australia is a safer country because of our partnerships with INTERPOL and EUROPOL."

Australia is one of 196 INTERPOL member nations, all with domestic law enforcement agencies that feed data and intelligence in daily to cast a global net over criminal activity.

The AFP supports local and national agencies and our communities by working with foreign partners through INTERPOL channels on investigations relating to urgent welfare and threats to life; suspect individuals, groups and organisations from foreign countries; tracking movements of fugitives internationally; circulation of INTERPOL Notices globally, including alerts for wanted or criminally active offenders, missing persons and unidentified bodies; and even lost or stolen artwork.

INTERPOL and the AFP also partner on major international disasters and serious crime issues affecting Australia, including disaster victim identification following major incidents such as the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami in South-East Asia, terrorist attacks including the 2002 Bali bombings, child exploitation, cybercrime, and organised crime.

As an operational partner of EUROPOL, meanwhile, Australia contributes to transnational intelligence projects and operational investigative outcomes specific to crime types, including terrorism, child sexual exploitation, drug investigations, human trafficking, cybercrime, and financial and economic offences.

Both relationships allow for the exchange of information and intelligence, as well as closer engagement in cross-border operations throughout Europe and the world, which can culminate in multi-agency searches and arrests against high-value, international criminals.

These relationships are further strengthened by directly working in tandem. The AFP hosts Australia's INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB) in its Canberra headquarters, as well as having a member embedded in Lyon, France.

The Australian National Contact Point for EUROPOL is also based in Canberra, working closely with AFP officers stationed at EUROPOL's base of operations in The Hague in The Netherlands. Here, they work within operational task forces, the Joint Action Cybercrime Taskforce, engage bilaterally with country representatives on thousands of operational and intelligence enquiries and leverage off the powerful analytical capabilities available to the European Union and its other partners.

There are myriad examples of how the connections have paid dividends, including the below:

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.