Improved National Response against Drugs and Contraband Trafficking in the Maritime Domain (Phase II)

3 September 2024, Karachi - A National Interagency Table-Top Exercise (TTX) commenced in Karachi yesterday. The national TTX is being organized by UNODC Country Office Pakistan under the provisions of the project entitled ‘Improved National Response against Drugs and Contraband Trafficking in the Maritime Domain (Phase II)’ – funded by the U.S. Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL). The project’s beneficiaries include Pakistan’s counternarcotics and maritime law enforcement agencies (MLEAs) such as the Anti Narcotics Force, Pakistan Customs, Pakistan Coast Guards, and the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency. The TTX was kick-started by Mr. Saqib Khan – UNODC Pakistan’s Programme Officer (Border Management) and Lieutenant Colonel Omer Naeem Khan – Joint Director of the ANF’s Regional Directorate in Balochistan. Being facilitated by UNODC Global Maritime Crime Programme (GMCP) international trainers Mr. Graham Harrison and Mr. Tiago Zanella, this TTX aims to bring together Pakistan’s counter narcotics and maritime (MLEAs) and their respective ministries – to discuss transnational organized crime challenges such as drug trafficking and smuggling of other contraband items through Pakistan’s coastal areas and maritime domain and fostering of interagency coordination and joint collaborative response to address these challenges more effectively.