Customs and border officers from the UNODC-supported Border Liaison Office intercept a shipment of around 70 kilograms of narcotic drugs

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 by strengthening the border crossing points and establishing working intelligence-sharing and enhanced cross-border communication mechanisms allowing detection and interception of contraband, including narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursor chemicals.

On 7 September 2023, customs and border officers from the UNODC-supported Border Liaison Office (BLO) at the Sariosiyo border crossing point (BCP) located in the Surkhondaryo region of Uzbekistan intercepted a large shipment of narcotic drugs.

During the inspection of a truck trailer arrived at the border crossing point, the officers found 69.2 kg of narcotic drugs – 30 wrappages with 31.9 kg of heroin and 36 wrappages with 37.3 kg of hashish.

BLO at the Sariosiyo BCP was established in 2014 and is one of 23 BLOs in the Central Asian region established at the key border crossing points under the Regional Initiative on Enhancing Cross-Border Cooperation in Central Asia of the Sub-programme 1 “Preventing and Countering Transnational Organized Crime” of the UNODC Programme for Central Asia 2022-2025.

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 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.

 

Read more about the project: unodc.org/documents/centralasia//2023/Publications/Cross-Border_Cooperation_Project_brochure_EN.pdf

 

*Photo is taken from the website of the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

 

 

For further information, please contact:

 

Nurangez Abdulhamidova

Communications and External Relations Specialist

UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia

Email: nurangez.abdulhamidova[at]un.org