CARICC reports no decline in drug trafficking.

27/9 Tass 158

ASTANA, September 27 (Itar-Tass) - The Regional Anti-Terrorist
Structure of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Central Asian
Regional Information and Coordination Centre for Combating Illicit
Trafficking of Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances and their
Precursors have signed in Almaty a protocol of cooperation.
"This document creates a legal groundwork for our joint actions,"
CARICC chief Beksultan Sarsekov said on Monday.
"If we obtain any information on drug dealers' financing of some
terrorist organization, we should obligatorily conduct joint operations.
We expect that if the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure and its
member-states receive the information on serious drug trafficking
channels, we should also pool efforts," Sarsekov said.
He noted that this year's drug production in Afghanistan totalled
6,600 tonnes of opium. "This is a serious reduction as against 2007 when a
record high output of 8,200 tonnes was reported," Sarsekov said adding
that at the same time Afghanistan's reserves of heroine and opium can
ensure their marketing for several years to come.
"Therefore it is early to speak about the reduction of a drug threat.
We should not comfort ourselves with the idea that we are witnessing a
declining trend," he said.
The CARICC unites Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. It is one of the biggest projects
of the United Nations Office on Dugs and Crime (UNODC). The agreement on
the creation of the CARICC entered into force on March 22, 2009.
The project's donors are Britain, Italy, Canada, Luxembourg, the
United States, Turkey, Finland, France and the Czech Republic. The project'
s budget until December 2011 is 15.4 million U.S. dollars.
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