Police stand outside a house that was involved in pre-dawn raids in the western Sydney suburb
Police stand outside a house that was involved in pre-dawn raids in the western Sydney suburb of Guilford September 18, 2014. More than 800 police were involved in the pre-dawn raids, described as the largest in Australian history, with at least 15 people detained. Australian police will allege that members of a group targeted in the sweeping counter-terrorism operation on Thursday planned to behead a random member of the public after draping the victim in the flag of Islamic State militants, Australia media reported. Without referring to specifics, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Australia was at "serious risk from a terrorist attack". Reuters

Australia and the U.K signed a pact that allows DNA database sharing between the police forces of the two countries. This is part of an international push to tackle serious crimes including terrorism, rapes and murders. Te pact was signed between Australia's Justice Minister Michael Keenan and Britain's Immigration and Security Minister James Brokenshire. They described the exchange deal as a pilot programme involving the two nations and soon the United States and Canada will also sign up, reported AFP.

Significance

Highlighting the significance of the DNA sharing pact, the Australian minister Keen said the "interconnected nature of today's world presents a borderless criminal environment". He added that by signing the MoU Australia showed its commitment to international law enforcement cooperation in strengthening global safety and security. The agreement paves way for the British police to search for DNA profiles from Australia, and vice versa.

Keenan said the Australian Federal Police already have a record of assisting British police officers in many cold case investigations. He said Australia would be looking for more opportunities to exchange DNA and other biometrics data sharing across the borders. At present, police from both the countries have to go through a lengthy legal process in the matter of exchanging details of suspects or cases. Thanks to the new agreement, authorities such as police, intelligence, immigration, and border control officials will be able to respond to cases quickly, reports AU News.

The British Minister of State for Immigration James Brokenshire said the large Australian expat population in the U.K will also gain from the agreement as it will ensure all citizens are kept safe from harm. The British minister also hoped the agreement will allow quicker information sharing in a secure and proportionate manner in strengthening crime fighting capabilities and solving serious cases like rapes and murders.

Yemen Case

The Australian Justice minister recently told an international conference how the biological data collected by the U.S. agencies benefited Australia in identifying its citizen killed in a drone strike in Yemen, last year. In Australia, the government agency CrimTrac runs the National Criminal Investigation DNA Database and assists Australian police in matching DNA profiles collected by the forces from different parts of the country. CrimTrac maintains a database of more than 700,000 DNA profiles. Since Australia is a signatory to the Interpol Charter in 2011, it also enjoys access to Interpol's DNA database.