Australian authorities have been stopped from pursuing a high-level criminal in Asia over fears the foreign national will face the death penalty if information is shared.
As the Commonwealth faces questioning over how it protects Australians overseas from capital punishment, details of a case have emerged showing it also treads cautiously when it comes to foreigners.
Sources have told AAP the Commonwealth in the past year knocked back an extradition application from NSW Police to bring the suspected criminal to Australia after he fled to Asia.
The man, who is not an Australian citizen, has continued his criminal exploits overseas leaving authorities' hands tied and unable to intervene.
The extradition application was rejected because of fears the overseas government couldn't guarantee the man wouldn't be arrested, prosecuted and in turn face the death penalty, a source with knowledge of the case said.
In some countries, governments can prosecute citizens for offences committed overseas.
"There is an absolute reticence for us to provide information to a foreign country with the death penalty," the source said.
"They are not prepared to have that happen ever again."
Police say there are other criminals offshore in the same situation. Investigators face the moral dilemma of bringing criminals to justice but not at the expense of a person's life.
It is one example of the cases going unresolved because of concerns information sharing could land someone in front of a firing squad.
"On instances where our investigators have appropriately made the decision not to share information, we're obviously in the dark," Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mark Colvin said on Monday.
"That's the reality of the situation. We have a strong objection to the death penalty. "The AFP takes it seriously. We have to make those judgments."
Mr Colvin broke the AFP's silence on Monday on how it handled the case of the Bali Nine. It came days after Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed in Indonesia for their roles in the heroin smuggling ring.
While Australia was in a region "surrounded by countries that have the death penalty", Mr Colvin said there had been instances when the AFP didn't share information since guidelines about the process were put in place in 2009.
In the past three years, the AFP had received more than 250 requests in relation to matters that may involve the death penalty, of which 15 had not gone forward in terms of exchange of information.
The federal attorney-general department has been contacted for comment.
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