172.5 kilograms of trafficked narcotic drugs were seized by BLO Officers

Interagency cooperation, intelligence sharing and information exchange among law enforcement agencies in Central Asian countries play a key role in fighting against drug trafficking. UNODC has been concentrating its efforts on supporting the vulnerable border areas against the trafficking of Afghan opiates through strengthening the border crossing points and establishing the working intelligence-sharing and enhanced cross-border communication mechanisms allowing to detect and intercept contraband, including narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursor chemicals.

In late October, the border liaison officers of the railway BCP “Kudukli” in Uzbekistan representing Customs, Border and Police officers held a joint operation as a result of which the attempt to smuggle drugs in large scales was uncovered.

According to the report, the freight train transiting from the Republic of Tajikistan through the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan passed through the cargo screening and train inspection. As a result, the BLO officers detected suspicious images of one of the train cars during screening.

After that, in the course of careful customs control with the help of service dogs, it turned out the bottom of the train car was equipped with a stash built with metal sheets.

As a result of opening and examining the stash, it was found that there were hidden 23 units of five-liter plastic containers wrapped in black polyethylene and bound with adhesive tape.

After opening, The officers discovered 11 kg 987 g of a narcotic substance with a specific pungent smell of heroin and 2 kg 592 g of hashish in 4 containers. The remaining 19 containers contained dark brown hash oil with a total weight of 81 kg 348 g, which was a concentrated product made from hemp.

After that, in the course of continued BLO operative actions, the customs officers of Surkhandarya Regional Department of the State Customs Committee, in cooperation with representatives of other law enforcement agencies, at the Darband railway station in the Baysun region, carried out additional customs control of the train cars. As a result, a stash was found at the bottom of another carriage equipped in the same way, in which, 21 more units of five-liter containers were discovered.

When the containers were opened, it was found that they contained the hashish drug with a total weight of 30 kg 648 g and hash oil in a total amount of 45 kg 906 g.

As a result of the BLO operational measures carried out, the illegal transportation of a total of 172.5 kilograms of narcotic drugs was prevented in a timely manner.

At present, a criminal case has been opened on the revealed fact of the crime.

It should be noted that BLO office was set up at “Kudukli” BCP in 2019 with financial support of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL). Through UNODC Regional Initiative on Cross Border Cooperation 27 BLO officers representing Customs, Border and Police agencies built their capacity on modern control techniques in holding searching operations on vehicles and trains. Another training course is planned to be held on 16-20 November 2020 for five countries in Central Asia using online platform.

 

Additional information

*The photos are taken from customs.uz

 

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Shakhnoza Zafari

Communication and External Relations Officer

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Email: shakhnoza.zafari[at]un.org