Law enforcement officials from Afghanistan and Central Asia, in Almaty, discuss co-operation in fighting drug trafficking

ALMATY, Kazakhstan, 3 December 2014 - Representatives of law enforcement agencies from Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, are meeting on 4 and 5 December in Almaty to discuss issues of co-operation in fighting drugs and the exchange of information on drug traffickers and drug supply routes.

The meeting was organized by the OSCE Transnational Threat Department's Strategic Police Matters Unit, the EU-funded project “Heroin Route II – Information Networks along the Heroin Route” and the Central Asian Regional Information and Co-ordination Centre for combating the illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors (CARICC).

Participants noted that the spread of illicit drugs, including heroin and cannabis from Afghanistan, is an issue of serious concern for Central Asian countries and one of the most profitable and dangerous forms of transnational organized crime.

At the opening ceremony OSCE Police Affairs Officer Mr. Valery Korotenko stated that ”serious challenges and threats posed by links between illicit drug trafficking and terrorism, other national/transnational criminal activities and transnational criminal networks, require an increased regional co-operation between law enforcement agencies in order to counteract the flow of opiates and other illicit drugs along Northern Route”.

The Joint Meeting is organized in accordance with OSCE Concept for Combating the Threat of Illicit Drugs and the Diversion of Chemical Precursors, adopted by the participating States at the  Permanent Council in 2012 (PC Decision 1048).

This event gather practitioners from senior and middle management positions of national law enforcement and drug control agencies, to focus on the practical implications of co-operation between law enforcement, improving information exchange and the planning of further joint activities.