Intelligence as a tool of effective investigation

The UNODC Regional office for Central Asia in partnership with the National Crime Agency of the United Kingdom (NCA) organized a study visit to the United Kingdom for Customs officers of Kazakhstan to familiarize them with the best practices in the area of border intelligence and investigation at the seaports Felixstowe and the Dover (Kent). The event was hosted and funded by the NCA. The Kazakh delegation was represented by the members of Port Control Unit (PCU) at the seaport "Morport" in Aktau, which was recently established under the UNODC-WCO Global Container Programme (CCP), and experts from State revenues Committee of the Ministry of Finance of Kazakhstan.

The Kazakh Customs officials learned about successful practice of identification and inspection of high risks cargoes, prevention of containers use for illicit purposes and became familiar with the modern methods of concealments of drugs and other prohibited goods transported to and from the UK. Besides, experienced border force specialists demonstrated advanced technical and other means of container's search and inspection.

The study visit provided participants with enhanced understanding of principles and mechanisms of cooperative work between customs and law enforcement agencies, importance of intelligence as a tool of effective investigation, advanced skills and knowledge to detect and combat organized crime at the border, as well as profile the high risks containers.

The donors for the CCP Regional Segment are the U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), the Export Control and Related Border Security (EXBS) Program as well as the Government of Japan.