Top Philippine security officials met Tuesday with their Japanese counterparts in Camp Crame in Quezon City to further strengthen the cooperation between the two countries on anti-crime measures.

Director General Jesus Verzosa, chief of the Philippine National Police and concurrent chairman of the International Police (Interpol) National Central Bureau-Manila, said the meeting with their Japanese counterparts was aimed at exploring for more avenues in handling cross-border crime investigation.

“This meeting serves as a great venue to discuss the various issues concerning our countries especially in the area of transnational crimes,” said Verzosa. He, however, would not elaborate.

The Japanese Interpol delegates headed by Chief Superintendent Akinori Tsuruya joined delegates from the Philippine Center for Transnational Crime (PCTC), the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Bureau of Immigration, and senior PNP officers at the conference held Tuesday morning in Camp Crame.

During the conference, heads of participating agencies briefed participants on various cases they were working on.

Verzosa said one of the subjected tackled was mapping out and sharing ways of modern methods of intelligence-gathering and crime investigation as well as comparing notes on improved policies in handling criminal cases.

“The Interpol indeed serves as a good medium for the law enforcement agencies of our countries in terms of cooperation and in coordination of different cases,” said Verzosa.

Senior Superintendent Leonardo Espina, PNP spokesman, said Tuesday’s meeting was actually a follow-up discussion between two countries security officials. The first Bilateral Meeting, he said, was held in July last year in Tokyo.

Espina said delegates from Interpol Tokyo will also visit the offices of the PNP’s elite Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Camp Crame, the BI and NBI during their stay in the country.

Other officials who attended the meeting were Superintendent Shoichi Izawa and Inspector Ryuichi Hozumi of Interpol Tokyo; Simeon Vallada, chief of the Anti-Fraud and Immigration Division of the BI; lawyer Joel Talavera and Raul Tepace, executive officer and special investigator, respectively, of the Interpol Division of the NBI.