 Connecting border security networks to prevent the movement of criminals and terrorist suspects was the focus of an interpol-led operation at four main transit hubs across Southeast Asia. Undertaken at international airports in Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia and Myanmar, Operation Red Lotus sought to strengthen collaboration between immigration and law enforcement agencies by utilizing interpol's full range of global policing capabilities to carry out enhanced passenger screening. ASEAN is a very diverse region. Ten countries with a very different level of economic development and also very different kind of administrations and capabilities, patches and so on. It is extremely important that on serious issues such as domestic security the government professionals that actually are on a daily basis on the ground share a certain level of understanding what the issues are and how to tackle those issues and how to work with your next neighbor and with the whole region. Over 18 million passenger checks were conducted during one month of operational activity resulting in more than 200 potential threats identified following hits against interpol databases. These saw the arrest of four individuals, wanted on fraud and abduction charges. Further investigative leads were also generated in a number of cases including on internationally wanted persons targeted by red notices in connection with trafficking in human beings and attempted murder charges. Part of the training and then which leads to the operations instills an institutional standard. As we see here today we have several officers that are getting trained in both the practical use of the devices but also the ability to use them in the field in real time. And that's one of the goals of this is to make sure that people are working seamlessly across all of the region. During these two days of workshop we were delivering training on services tools and databases for the migration officers. They are doing a great professional job systematically screening against our databases in interpol. So what we are doing here is trying to improve their skills giving them the opportunity to review their standard operational procedures with our support to improve and enhance their border security. Bringing an international standard as Interpol brings with it and turning it into a training activity for all those practitioners in the region at the same time makes it possible that they all shared understanding on the magnitude of the issues and on the way to tackle them but it also creates some kind of a spree decor. Training from that point of view around an international standard is a fantastic way to contribute to cooperation in Southeast Asia on matters that are on direct interest of the security of the interpol. Operation Red Lotus falls under Interpol's Migration and Border Management Program which is funded by the European Union.