RIYADH, 13 March — Naif Arab Academy for Security Sciences (NAASS) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Taiwan in crime detection using the DNA technique as well as in the prevention of economic crimes, such as money laundering.
Within the framework of this MoU, three forensic experts from Taiwan will make a presentation next month at NAASS on the scientific advances made by the Republic of China in DNA testing. Other elements of the accord include organizing a training program on the identification of narcotic drug chemicals and arranging an experts’ visit from the Central Police University in Taipei to the academy’s headquarters in Riyadh to discuss future cooperation between the two organizations.
“We are working on strengthening scientific cooperation between our two countries,” Laith N.C. Chen, second secretary, Taipei Economic & Cultural Representative Office in Riyadh, told Arab News. He said ROC experts are already actively involved in the fields of agriculture and fisheries development in the Kingdom.
Under the MoU signed between Dr. David Liu, director of forensic sciences department of the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau, Taipei, and Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Ghamdi, president of NAASS in Riyadh, MJIB will also donate equipment to the academy for DNA testing. The existing equipment at NAASS have been described as “good enough for training but not for real case analysis.”
There will also be an exchange of visits involving experts on both sides. He said the exchange program falls within the framework of the MoU signed by the Naif Arab Academy and Taiwan’s Investigation Bureau in 1994.
Chen said training courses for NAASS delegates on “Narcotic drug chemicals—precursor chemicals” will be held in Taipei later this year. Both parties signed minutes of the meeting to oversee implementation of the accord and its follow-up. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Riyadh will be closely involved in this regard.
Pointing out that DNA testing is a new field for the Academy, Chen said 30 trainees from the Academy have already visited Taipei to conduct toxicology analysis and interpret the data. “Forensic science presents a new area of cooperation between the two countries, particularly in criminal identification. The cost of the training program will be met partly by MJIB.”
Among the other areas of cooperation, the two agencies will hold talks on organizing a training course on economic crime prevention to be held in Taipei in autumn.” So far the bureau organized three training courses on DNA identification for the Naif Arab Academy. These courses were highly appreciated by the participants in the Academy’s training program.
Referring to the ongoing cooperation between the two agencies, Chen pointed out that the Investigation Bureau in Taiwan organized training courses in Taipei in response to a request from the Naif Arab Academy in the first phase. These courses, spread over three sessions, focused on forensic sciences like the DNA identification technique. Another course was on the drugs and toxicant analysis. Almost 40 participants from the Kingdom and elsewhere took part in these four training courses.
In the second phase, according to Chen, the thrust of the training program held in Taipei was on crime prevention and detection of money laundering.
He said that since the late 1980s the Investigation Bureau in Taipei realized the importance of providing evidence by means of DNA analysis. To this end, the bureau dispatched forensic experts with the background of medicine or biology to the US for receiving extensive training on DNA identification.
Most of the experts spend two or three years in the US for obtaining Master’s degree in DNA before they return to work in the labs of the Investigation Bureau.
