UNODC-trained border officers detain a foreign citizen for attempting to travel with falsified document

On 1 March 2023, the officers from the Border Troops of the State Security Service of the Republic of Uzbekistan detained a foreign citizen who tried to board a flight to Istanbul from Tashkent International Airport using a fake passport.

According to the statement of the Main Department for Ensuring Security on Transport and Tourism Facilities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan, a Bulgarian citizen wanted to travel to Turkey from Uzbekistan using a fake Bulgarian passport that did not belong to him. 

A criminal case was initiated under Article 227 (seizure, destruction, damage or concealment of documents, stamps, seals, letterheads, state license plates of motor vehicles and their trailers), Article 228 (production, forgery of documents, stamps, seals, forms, their sale or use) and Article 223 (illegal travel abroad or illegal entry into the Republic of Uzbekistan) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Since 2017, over 50 officers from the Border Troops of the State Security Service of the Republic of Uzbekistan have benefited from UNODC specialized training courses, including on the verification of the authenticity of travel documents of persons crossing the state border[1] and risk profiling and management at border checkpoints[2].  

The trainings were conducted within the framework of the UNODC Regional Project on Enhancing the Cross-Border Cooperation in Central Asia of Sub-programme 1 “Preventing and Countering Transnational Organized Crime” “of the UNODC Programme for Central Asia, designed to counter the trafficking of Afghan opiates through the northern route by establishing Border Liaison Offices at the key border crossing points in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Since 2010, the project has been supporting law enforcement agencies in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan through infrastructure development and capacity-building, including through the provision of training courses, high-tech equipment and specialized analytical software.

The project is funded by the Government of Japan.

 

For further information, please contact:

 

Nurangez Abdulhamidova

Communication and External Relations Officer

UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia

Email: nurangez.abdulhamidova[at]un.org