UNODC and CARICC organized a Regional Training on Joint Cross Border Operations for Law Enforcement Agencies of Central Asia 

On 7 - 11 August 2023, a regional training on joint cross border operations for law enforcement officers from the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and the Republic of Uzbekistan was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The event was conducted within the framework of the Cross-Border Cooperation Initiative of Sub-programme 1 “Preventing and Countering Transnational Organized Crime” of the UNODC Programme for Central Asia 2022-2025, in cooperation with the UNODC Terrorism Prevention Branch and CARICC.

For a duration of 5 days, the CARICC conference hall became a platform for sharing information and experiences between international experts and 26 law enforcement officers from anti-smuggling and counter-narcotics divisions from 5 countries of Central Asia, who are involved in cross-border law enforcement operations.

Highly qualified international experts from the UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia and the UNODC Terrorism Prevention Branch (TPB), the Turkish International Academy Against Drugs and Organized Crime (TADOC), the Central Drug Control Directorate of the Italian Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan, and CARICC were invited to deliver the training.

The purpose of the training was to enhance participants' knowledge of various legal and procedural frameworks of cross-border law enforcement operations, the use of different sources of operational information, intelligence and information sharing during the different stages of international cross-border operations, tactics and solutions used in different types of operations, new drug trafficking trends, routes and methods, and instruments of international cooperation in combating drug trafficking, including the capacities of CARICC in coordinating international multilateral operations and providing analytical support for counter-narcotics operations. Experts from the UNODC TPB shared the experience of Australia and North Macedonia in cross-border operations in the terrorism context and gave an overview of UNODC/TPB and the international legal framework addressing border control.

The sessions were of a practical nature and included demonstrations of work processes performed by competent authorities in international bilateral and multilateral cross-border operations. The participants emphasized that the exchange of experience on new trends, routes, and types of drug trafficking, methods of identification and risk assessment in transit countries, and the identification and seizure of new psychoactive substances and synthetic drugs were of particular importance in light of the unprecedented increase in the production and trafficking of these drugs in the Central Asian region.

The implementation of the UNODC Cross-Border Cooperation Initiative in Central Asia is funded by the Government of Japan.