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Worldwide Specialists on the Afghan Drugs Trade Met at Europol

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Worldwide Specialists on the Afghan Drugs Trade Met at Europol WORLDWIDE SPECIALISTS ON THE AFGHAN DRUGS TRADE MET AT EUROPOL 02 Dec 2013 News Article Afghanistan remains the largest producer of opium poppies providing the base for 90 per cent of the world’s heroin, and the opiate market continues to be flexible and adaptable. This situation requires a similar approach by law enforcement & the wider international community in order to combat the growing sophistication of the Afghan opiate trade. Diversification of trafficking routes from Afghanistan is a prominent and current development, and especially towards Europe, and for that reason particularly Europol is keen to provide logistical and practical support, also to extend knowledge and experience fighting heroin production and trafficking from an EU perspective, in support of the Paris Pact Initiative. The Paris Pact Initiative (PPI), a partnership of over 50 countries & international organisations, aims at facilitating consultations to identify & set in motion concrete measures for combating Afghan opiates trafficking, consumption & related problems in countries along the trafficking routes. The PPI was launched at a Ministerial Conference in Paris in 2003, where the international community subscribed to the principle of shared responsibility in the fight against opium & heroin trafficking from Afghanistan. Europol hosted a Paris Pact Expert Working Group at its headquarters in February this year on precursors, financial flows & border control issues. A number of recommendations emanated from this event & the UN asked if we could assist by holding a further meeting specifically on precursors. End of November 80 delegates met at Europol with participants from Afghanistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, India, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Serbia, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, USA, as well as many EU countries and international organisations. Last week’s meeting at Europol headquarters was directly related to the third law enforcement pillar on precursors of the Vienna Declaration formulated at a third Ministerial Conference in Vienna last year where Europol put forward a Statement outlining its commitment to the initiative. The meeting aims to formulate operational actions at a regional level (including at a European level) to tackle the flow of the precursor chemical acetic anhydride to Afghanistan, where it is a crucial material used in the illicit manufacture of heroin. Europe has been targeted by traffickers as a potential source region for acetic anhydride for many years and in 2010/2011 Europol provided operational support and coordination to a pan-EU investigation spanning several countries which resulted in the seizure of 1 more than 37 tonnes of the material (sufficient for the production of a similar quantity of heroin). The prominence of organised criminal groups targeting the European Union as a potential source region for acetic anhydride - an increasing phenomenon in recent years - is a situation Europol has addressed robustly and will continue to do so in cooperation with EU and third state partners. CRIME AREAS Drug Trafficking TARGET GROUPS General Public • Law Enforcement • Academia • Professor • Students • Researcher • Press/Journalists • Other Source URL: https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/worldwide-specialists-afghan-drugs-trade-met- europol 2.
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