MLAT (Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty)
A bilateral treaty under which two countries agree to help each other in criminal investigations — sharing evidence, interrogating witnesses, and executing searches.
MLATs allow police and prosecutors to obtain legally admissible evidence from another country in a form that their domestic courts will accept. Typical MLAT requests cover banking records, witness interviews, computer forensics and formal questioning of suspects. The MLAT channel is slower than informal police-to-police cooperation but produces evidence that survives defence challenges. Malandro does not surface MLAT traffic because these requests are confidential. However, many high-profile extraditions of wanted fugitives rely on MLAT-obtained evidence to substantiate the underlying charges. When a Red Notice is followed by an extradition, the evidence package usually travels under MLAT.