United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

The UNODC Regional Office in East Africa (ROEA)

UNODC Global Maritime Crime Programme (GMCP) hosts an event on Countering Narcotics Trafficking in the Indian Ocean 

Vienna, 15 May 2018 - The last four years has seen a major shift in trafficking patterns of narcotics across the Indian Ocean from the Makran to the Swahili Coast. The number of seizures in the Indian Ocean have increased and landings on the East Coast of Africa are moving further south from Kenya and Tanzania to Mozambique.

During the CCPCJ in Vienna, UNODC Global Maritime Crime Programme (GMCP)hosted an event on Countering Narcotics Trafficking in the Indian Ocean to discuss the possibilities of a legal finish to prosecute the crime of drug trafficking. The current maritime security operations in the Indian Ocean, supported by the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), are clearly disrupting the perpetrators by seizing and disposal of the narcotics at sea. However, to achieve a deterrent effect on drug trafficking it is necessary to pursue legal action to ensure proper legal finish to prosecute the perpetrators.

The panellist consisted of the Regional Representative of UNODC office in the Region of East Africa, Amado Philip de Andres, who chaired the panel, Mr. Alan Cole, Head of the Global Maritime Crime Programme presented the successes of GMCP in providing support throughout the criminal justice chain and prosecuting transnational and maritime crime and how this can be used as a model to prosecute drug trafficking in the Indian Ocean. Additionally, the panel was joined by representatives from member states H.E. Ms. Helena Mateus Kida, Deputy Minister of Interior, Mozambique, Mr. Roger Siyanga Commissioner General of the Drug Control Enforcement Agency (DCEA), Tanzania and Hon. Sagala Ratnayaka MP, Chief of staff to the Prime Minister and minister of youth affaires, Sri Lanka. The representatives of the member states discussed their current challenges in tackling drug trafficking by engaging in regional cooperation such as the Indian Ocean Forum of Maritime Crime (IOFMC) and the Southern Route Partnership (SRP) facilitated by GMCP

The current commander of the Combined Maritime Forces, Commodore Wise from the Royal Australian Navy presented clear facts and statistics on the drug trafficking interdictions and maritime security operations undertaken on the Indian Ocean, as well as Mr. Charles Stuart, deputy chief of the EU mission in Tanzania added the current needs to combine efforts at land and sea to tackle the problem.