Police trade crime gang intelligence

FOUR high-ranking Lebanese cops have been recruited by NSW police to provide an insight into how Middle Eastern crime gangs operate.

In a unique exchange, the officers are investigating Sydney's ethnic and migrant communities to construct a type of "family tree" to assist in fighting organised crime.

Deputy Police Commissioner Nick Kaldas said: "We need to be more culturally aware of the community we're dealing with and their sensitivities and their aspirations. We're learning a great deal from listening to these (Lebanese) officers talk about how they see things."

The group arrived in Sydney on March 6 and are expected to stay for three months.

While technology and forensic techniques were high on a list of priorities the Lebanese officers were keen to cover, they have also made efforts to establish a network with community groups in Sydney.

"We will exchange a whole lot of information about technology and operational issues," Mr Kaldas said. "They have got a list, as we do, of issues they want to cover while they're here."

He said the four officers had already spent time with the head of the NSW police Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad and were expected to spend "quite a deal of time in southwest Sydney".

He said police were not investigating any specific ongoing cases but confirmed officers would "talk about operational issues while they are here".

"I think the migrant community, the Arabic community, the Middle Eastern community are happy and pleased to see NSW police engaging with officers from the Middle East and being committed to that dialogue," he said.

Delegation leader Lt Col Rony Ghanem said the group hoped to have "an exchange of information, an exchange of operational procedures, and a dialogue with the communities that we will engage with while we are here".

The exchange program originated in a series of meetings between the head of Lebanon's police force, Major General Ashraf Rifi, Dept Com Kaldas, and NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione during Lebanese President Michel Suleiman's visit to Australia in April last year.

Mr Kaldas is well-known in Lebanon, being called in to head an investigation into the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri, killed along with 21 others when a massive car bomb exploded next to his convoy as it passed through a crowded waterfront area.

While Mr Kaldas said he did not believe there were any fugitives currently hiding from police in either Australia or Lebanon, the operation would assist officers in tracking down criminals who flee back to the old country to avoid prosecution, such as Saleh Jamal, who used a false passport to flee Australia after being charged over a shoot-out.

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