OSCE Centre conducts regional seminar on countering drug trafficking

KARAGANDA, Kazakhstan, 3 November 2014 – A four-day regional seminar for law enforcement officers on the detection of trafficking routes for illegal drugs and their precursors, including methods for detecting relevant contraband, began today in Karaganda.

The event was co-organized by the OSCE Centre in Astana, the State Revenues Committee of the Finance Ministry and the US Embassy in Kazakhstan with the aim of enhancing law enforcement agencies’ capacity to combat trafficking of drugs and their precursors.

It brought together some 60 officers from across the country representing the State Revenues Committee, the Interior Ministry, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the National Security Committee, as well as  high-level officials from anti-drug trafficking services of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Experts from Georgia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania and the United States as well as Interpol will share their experience in countering trafficking of drugs and their precursors. They will provide an overview of the work of Interpol in combating drug trafficking, best international practices in identifying and precluding international channels of drugs and the drug precursor trade, types of precursors used to produce illicit drugs, successful examples of using controlled deliveries and psychological techniques to detect drug traffickers.

“In view of the ongoing withdrawal of the International Security Assistance Force from Afghanistan, all the countries in the broader region should strengthen the capacity of their anti-drug units, and expand effective interaction between the law enforcement agencies both within their countries and beyond,” said Ambassador Natalia Zarudna, Head of the OSCE Centre in Astana.” They should also apply an integrated approach to the identification of channels for trafficking drugs and their precursors to effectively address the threat coming from transnational organized crime in this regard.”

Muratzhan Dzhangozin, Deputy Director of the Training Methodological Centre of the State Revenues Committee of the Finance Ministry, said: “This seminar will help to counter the trafficking of illicit drugs and their precursors as Kazakhstan's law enforcement officers will have new knowledge and skills to more effectively identify their transit routes to destination countries.”

The seminar is part of the OSCE Centre’s effort to combat transnational organized crime, most notably drug trafficking and illicit use of chemical precursors.