International committee: Azerbaijan refines its strategy to fight drug transit

The Azerbaijani government continues to refine its strategy to combat drug transit and use in Azerbaijan, the last report of the International Drug Control Committee, published on the website of the U.S State Department, said.

The Azerbaijani government bolstered its ability to collect and analyze drug-related intelligence, resulting in more productive investigations against narcotics traffickers, the report said.

Azerbaijan held the chairmanship of the GUAM group of countries (Georgia-Ukraine-Azerbaijan-Moldova) from July 2007-July 2008 and had pushed for sharing counter narcotics information through the GUAM countries’ Virtual Law Enforcement Center (VLEC) in Baku.

The VLEC was established with the U.S government's assistance, the report said.

During the first nine months of 2009, Azerbaijani law enforcement agencies confiscated approximately 900 kilograms of narcotics.

In April 2008, the Azerbaijani Interior Ministry signed the agreement with the Russian Federal Drug Control Service. It facilitated joint operations in the area of professional training, the report said. This cooperation led to the confiscation of 200 kilograms of drugs.

The U.S. and the Azerbaijani government will continue to expand their efforts to conduct law enforcement assistance programs in Azerbaijan, the report said.


/Trend/