Customs and border officers from the UNODC-supported Border Liaison Office in Uzbekistan intercept a shipment of over 154 kilograms of hashish

Interagency cooperation, intelligence-sharing and information exchange among law enforcement agencies in Central Asian countries play a key role in countering 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 detection and interception of contraband, including narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursor chemicals.

Customs and border officers from the UNODC-supported Border Liaison Office in Uzbekistan, under the coordination of the Situation Center at the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan, carried out a joint operation to intercept a large shipment of narcotic drugs. 

On 27 March, during the inspection of the goods vehicle that arrived at the Ayritom border crossing point, the officers found 1305 pieces of packages shaped and camouflaged as potatoes in 38 bags. The packages had been well concealed in sacks of potatoes and contained a total of 154 kilograms and 90 grams of hashish.

It will be recalled that on 15 February 2022, customs and border officers from the UNODC-supported Border Liaison Office at the Oybek BCP in the Tashkent region of Uzbekistan intercepted a shipment of around 230 kilograms of heroin.

BLO at the Ayritom BCP was established in 2016 and is one of 19 BLOs in the Central Asian region established at the key border crossing points under the Cross-Border Cooperation Project of Sub-programme 1 “Countering transnational organized crime, illicit drug trafficking and preventing terrorism” of the UNODC Programme for Central Asia. It is the first project to establish BLOs in Central Asia, and its stakeholders are the Ministries of Internal Affairs, Border Troops, Customs and Drug Control Agencies of each country.

The Cross-Border Cooperation Project strengthens the capacities of officers working at the BLOs representing all law enforcement agencies in countering transnational organized crime, including through various training programmes in Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries. In 2020-2021 alone, 114 law enforcement officers in Uzbekistan, including Ayritom BLO officers, enhanced their capacities in risk profiling, documents profiling and verification of individuals crossing borders, planning and implementation of joint operational activities on the border, vehicle, luggage, cargo and goods inspection at state border checkpoints, new types of synthetic narcotics, drug interdiction and information-sharing, IBM i2 Analyst’s Notebook and iBase, and others through attending a series of trainings organized under the project.

The project is funded by the Government of Japan.

 

*Photos are taken from the website of the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

 

For further information, please contact:

 

Nurangez Abdulhamidova

Communication and External Relations Officer

UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia (Dushanbe)

Email: nurangez.abdulhamidova[at]un.org