OSCE Border Management Staff College, UNODC regional workshop focuses on effective measures to combat illegal drug traffic

Colonel Halimjon Mahmudov, Deputy Director of the Drug Control Agency under the President of Republic of Tajikistan and Jeremy Milsom, UNODC Regional Programme Coordinator address the participants at the opening ceremony, 11 August 2014 (OSCE/Farhodjon Nabiyulloev)

DUSHANBE, 15 August 2014 – A week-long workshop aimed at enhancing the capacity of law enforcement agencies and judicial institutions in West and Central Asia to dismantle criminal networks involved in illicit drug trafficking, concluded today at the OSCE Border Management Staff College.

The course, which highlighted effective control delivery techniques and improving special investigative skills, was co-organized with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and brought together 25 mid-to senior-level experts and officials from law enforcement agencies and judicial institutions in Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Representatives of the Almaty-based Central Asian Regional Information and Coordination Centre and the Tehran-based Joint Planning Cell also attended.

Participants were familiarized with the legal frameworks related to control delivery from the perspective of UN Conventions and EU law, and discussed legal tools, operational practices and material resources needed to carry out controlled deliveries properly. They gained an understanding of how to detect sources and destinations of drug shipments as well as how to dismantle organized criminal groups involved in drug trafficking.

“One of the main objectives of our College is to enhance international co-operation in the area of border security management between professionals from different countries,” said Alexander Eliseev, Chief of Education at the OSCE Border Management Staff College. “Therefore this regional workshop is very important not only to gain new knowledge and experience on the implementation of Control Delivery procedures and the creation of Joint Investigation Teams, but also for the development of future co-operation.”

Jeremy Milsom, UNODC Senior Regional Programme Co-ordinator, said: “Catching and prosecuting those responsible for drug trafficking is an important element of our overall efforts. The use of control delivery and joint investigative teams is a powerful tool in bringing down criminal networks. Control delivery operations when successful may bring intelligence on those who organized and financed the trafficking. Therefore regional co-operation between law enforcement and judicial bodies is crucial to manage this effectively.”

This was the first regional workshop on promoting co-operation in control delivery and joint investigative teams organized in West and Central Asia. It was organized under the UNODC Regional Programme for Afghanistan and Neighbouring countries, in close co-operation with OSCE and with the support provided by the EU (EU Heroin Route II Project).