KIGALI, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda National Police Wednesday handed over its judicial police functions to the newly formed Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB).

The judicial functions transferred to RIB include criminal and counter-terrorism investigation, crime intelligence, and economic and financial crimes investigation. More than 400 judicial police officers who worked for the police will now work under RIB, which is under the oversight of the Ministry of Justice.

The handover of responsibilities is expected to ease the work on all parties in the justice sector and improve professionalism and efficiency, said Rwanda's Justice Minister Johnston Busingye at the handover event in the capital city Kigali.

Busingye described the handover as a big day in the history of the east African country especially in the rule of law.

Jeannot Ruhunga, who was appointed as Secretary General of RIB by Rwandan President Paul Kagame earlier this month, promised that RIB would focus on cybercrime, human trafficking, drug trafficking and corruption, among others.

The changes are meant to strengthen the justice systems in order to effectively respond to the challenge of contemporary crimes, said Emmanuel Gasana, Inspector General of Police.

He pledged Police will work closely with RIB in their respective responsibilities so as to leave no vacuum for criminals to occupy.