ISLAMABAD:A five-day workshop organized by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Country Office in Pakistan (COPAK) for maritime law enforcement agencies concluded here on Saturday.
The roundtable workshop was aimed at strengthening national action against drugs trafficking and smuggling of contraband items through Pakistan’s coastal areas and maritime domain.
The officials of law enforcement agencies included Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF), Pakistan Customs, and the Pakistan Coast Guards (PCG) participated in the workshop.
Representative UNODC COPAK, Dr. Jeremy Milsom highlighted the existing and emerging trends in drug trafficking, human trafficking and migrant smuggling (HTMS), and smuggling of other contraband items. Originating from Afghanistan, they create governance and security challenges in Pakistan and the wider region.
He emphasized the need to improve interagency and regional cooperation to effectively respond to these challenges, especially in the backdrop of recent political developments in Afghanistan.
He explained that the workshop seeks input from the participating law enforcement agencies to embed international best practices into Pakistan’s maritime law enforcement procedures. “In this sense, the workshop will contribute towards the creation of a maritime working group, within the frameworks of Pakistan’s Inter-Agency Task Forces and Working Groups on counter-narcotics, HTMS, and anti-smuggling.”
Federal Secretary, Ministry of Narcotics Control Dr. Syed Kaleem Imam shed light on Pakistan’s role as the first line of defense against the massive flow of opiates and their derivatives, synthetic drugs, and new psychotropic substances to Pakistan – both for domestic consumption and transnational trafficking to rest of the world. He underscored the implementation of countermeasures as envisaged in Pakistan’s Anti-Narcotics Policy 2019.
Director of the U.S. Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) Mark Tervakoski thanked Pakistan for making concerted efforts in curbing the flow of narcotics as the main transit country neighboring Afghanistan.
He acknowledged the role played by the ANF and other Pakistani law enforcement agencies. He noted that “there is a need to enhance technical capacity – for detecting, deterring and disrupting drug trafficking proactively”.
He appreciated the close relationship between Pakistan and the U.S. in their fight against drug proliferation.
The roundtable workshop was facilitated by an international expert from UNODC’s Global Maritime Crime Programme (GMCP). Extensive legal and technical discussions were made among the ANF, Pakistan Customs, and the PCG, around the existing and emerging challenges of illicit trafficking and smuggling and on forming an integrated response in the maritime domain.
The interagency workshop was organized by UNODC COPAK and GMCP through an INL-funded project entitled ‘Improved National Response against Drugs and Contraband Trafficking in the Maritime Domain’.