Law Enforcement Agencies of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan Cooperate under the Container Control Programme

  Launched in 2003, the Container Control Programme, a joint UNODC and World Customs Organization (WCO) initiative, aims at assisting governments to create sustainable enforcement structures in selected sea and dry ports in order to minimize the risk of shipping containers being exploited for illicit drug trafficking and transnational organized crime. Within the programme, in October, UNODC conducted a training in Aktau (Kazakhstan) for Kazakh law enforcement officers responsible for countering drug trafficking. A similar training was organized earlier in September for Turkmen law enforcement officers at the WCO Regional Office for Capacity Building in Baku. The Programme envisages the establishment of an inter-agency groups to control container traffic in the seaports and dry ports of these countries.

The members of the inter-agency group will be introduced to a wide range of international legal instruments and principals regarding risk analysis, cargo inspection, information exchange mechanisms, post seizure investigations and trade facilitation. The group will also be provided with access to ContainerCOMM, a secure internet tool hosted by WCO. Above-mentioned training is the first step in building the capacity of the inter-agency group. The second step will be a two week practical exercise to apply profiling and searching techniques. After that, UNODC plans to conduct advanced training on the use of dual-use goods, environmental crime, trafficking in endangered species, counterfeit goods, trafficking of nuclear material, trafficking of firearms and mass destruction weapons, etc. The programme also plans to organize study visits to the ports of other countries, as well as provide further mentorship support to the inter-agency group.