UNODC stands committed for the Capacity Building of LEAs in Khyber Paktunkhwa

 

Peshawar, 27 April 2018: The UNODC Country Office in Pakistan conducted a three-day training on Illicit Drug Trafficking and Diversion of Precursors which was sponsored by the Government of Japan in Peshawar.

This training workshop was implemented under UNODC Pakistan Country Programme II (2016-2019) and was designed for field officers of Anti-Narcotics Force, Pakistan Customs, Pakistan Railways and provincial Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control Department which have responsibilities for monitoring and controlling drug trafficking and diversion of precursor chemicals and carrying out operations and investigations on clandestine laboratories. Officials of the Pakistan Railways for the first time attended the UNODC organised training in Khyber Paktunkhwa. 

Approximately 26 mid-ranking officers from these agencies attended the training. The training also conforms to the Government of Japan's commitment to strengthen border security against illicit drug trafficking and related transnational organized crime.

On behalf of Mr. Cesar Guedes, UNODC Representative in Pakistan, Ms. Anila Rahim, Program Officer, Precursors, in her welcome address thanked the Government of Pakistan for their continued cooperation and highly appreciated the Government of Pakistan and its law enforcement agencies for making concerted and highly commendable efforts in interdicting and seizing large amounts of illicit drugs and illegally diverted precursor chemicals destined for international markets.  

The Program Officer dilated upon the UNODC global mandates including countering transnational organized crime and illicit trafficking. She emphasized the importance of the training in the context of the UNODC Country Programme II, Pakistan. 

Lt. Col Muhammad Saqib Ansari, Joint Director ANF, Regional Directorate Khyber Paktunkhwa in his opening remarks thanked UNODC and Government of Japan for their constant support to ANF and gave an overview of ANF RD operations in Khyber Paktunkhwa. Mr. Adnan, Assistant Director ANF, gave a detailed presentation on the "Existing control mechanisms and efforts of ANF to control drugs and precursors trafficking" and highlighted the main trafficking routes and challenges faced by the ANF and other law enforcement agencies. He emphasized the need to cooperate and collaborate with individual efforts of the agencies. In his sessions, Col. Sajid Aslam covered the overall prevalent drug situation in the region, with special emphasis on the diversion of precursor chemicals. 

The training program aimed to equip counter-narcotics law enforcement field officers with the necessary knowledge and skills to interdict drugs trafficking, control diversion of precursor chemicals and effectively dismantle clandestine laboratories used for manufacturing illegal drugs. 

On day two of the training, the participants completed the drugs and precursor specific global eLearning modules. UNODC COPAK in collaboration with Global eLearning Programme has recently localized (in Urdu language) five new eLearning modules on Land Border Interdiction Techniques and made them available for Pakistani law enforcement learners on the Global eLearning platform in online and offline formats. UNODC eLearning modules compliment the class room lectures followed by suggested practical exercises to enhance the knowledge and skills of law enforcement personnel more efficiently and effectively. The knowledge gained by the training participants were measured through the difference of pre-test and post-test scores secured by participants in each eLearning course, which showed a stark jump from avg. 30% in pre-test to avg. 80% in post-test, with an increase in knowledge at avg. 103% in aggregate.          

At the end of the workshop, certificates were distributed to the participants. This achievement has been made possible by the generous support of the Government of Japan.