UNODC Facilitated a Study Tour to the Uzbek-Tajik Border-Crossing Point

On 25 September 2018, UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia facilitated a study tour to "Oybek" border-crossing point located at the Uzbek-Tajik border for representatives of the law enforcement agencies of the Republic of Kazakhstan interested in best practices and established mechanisms of Border Liaison Office (BLO) activity, as well as interagency and cross-border cooperation.

The delegation of the Republic of Kazakhstan was composed of the representatives of the national Border Guard Service of the Committee for the National Security and the Ministry of Interior. The visit was hosted by the State Customs Committee and State Border Guard Committee of the State Security Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

During the visit, participants discussed the issues related to the interagency cooperation in border control area, current situation with drug trafficking and transnational organized crime in the Republic of Uzbekistan, equipment and interdiction methods used by customs and border guard officers, legislative basis for BLO creation, standard operating procedures to enable BLO operations, analytical and other software products used for storage, sharing and data exchange practices, as well as human resources' professional development.

Mr Ravshan Ruziev, the Senior Officer of the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan, noted: "BLO is one of the impulses for cooperation and involvement of colleagues from other law enforcement bodies like Ministry of Internal Affairs. BLO serves to collect and summarize existing operational information from all the law enforcement bodies."

Mr. Darkhan Oralbayev, the representative of the Border Guard Service of the Committee for the National Security of the Republic of Kazakhstan emphasized on the significance of understanding the legislative basis and BLO operating procedures for further evaluation of its applicability in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

"Oybek" is a land border-crossing point (BCP) between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan with international status and is open 24/7. Up to 7000 people cross "Oybek" border-crossing point daily and this is the main arteria for automobiles on the way from Kazakhstan to Tajikistan. "Oybek" BCP has hosted the Border Liaison office on its territory since May 2014. It is one of four BLOs established in Uzbekistan.  

The Kazakh delegation expressed high interest in getting the overview of dynamics of narcotic drug seizures before and after BLO establishment.  The Uzbek counterparts pointed out to the main advantages of this UNODC initiative, which are the elaboration of step-wise examination procedure, advance technical equipment of the BLO, and effective cross border cooperation. They noted that with a support from BLO officers about 15 kg of heroin were seized at "Bekabad" BCP in May 2018.

The event is implemented within the framework of the «Countering the trafficking of Afghan opiates via the northern route by enhancing the capacity of key border crossing points and through the establishment of Border Liaison Offices» component of the UNODC Programme for Central Asia 2015-2019, and funded by the Government of Japan.

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For more information

Please, contact Ms. Yevgeniya Arkhipova, Programme Associate

Tel.:  998 (71) 120-80-50

E-mail: yevgeniya.arkhipova[at]un.org