HONDURAS

Tackling crime in Honduras

Honduras is located between North and South America with coasts in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. This strategic geography makes Honduras attractive to organized crime groups wanting to link drug producers with drug consumers using land, air and maritime trafficking routes.

With regional organized crime networks invariably operating on a global level, the role of INTERPOL’s National Central Bureau (NCB) in Honduras is crucial to safeguarding national and regional security.

INTERPOL in Honduras

The INTERPOL NCB in Tegucigalpa is Honduras’s lead agency for taking national criminal investigations beyond national borders when Honduran law enforcement needs to work with police forces in other countries and continents.

The NCB is an operational unit, meaning NCB police staff can exercise police power across the country on behalf of the national police, including the power of arrest. The Head of NCB answers directly to the Police Chief.

By providing globally-sourced intelligence about regional crime, the NCB helps police officers across the country to detect and investigate the flow of illicit goods along trafficking routes in and around the country. It plays a central role in preventing the country and surrounding region from serving international organized crime.

Law enforcement in Honduras

Honduras police services, including national security, crime prevention and criminal investigations are the responsibility of the National Security Office (NSO). Headed by the Secretary of State, NSO provides national law enforcement services through the Honduras National Police.

The NCB is part of the national police force, called ‘Policia Nacional’.