ALMATY, Kazakhstan – An agreement between INTERPOL and the Central Asian Regional Information and Coordination Centre for combating illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors (CARICC) will provide an enhanced platform for international cooperation in the fight against terrorism and drug trafficking.
Under the accord, CARICC will have direct access to INTERPOL’s police information system and global databases, enabling the organizations to exchange information on drug traffickers and members of terrorist organizations, and identify the proceeds of drug trafficking being used to fund terrorist activity.
“Today we witness one of the significant milestones of the cooperation between CARICC and the General Secretariat of INTERPOL, with the signing of the cooperation agreement.
“This agreement will enable the Centre to access and use INTERPOL's police information system databases, thus boosting the capacities of CARICC Center," said CARICC Director, Lieutenant General Beksultan Sarsekov who signed the agreement at the launch of the two-day (25-26 April) Terrorism and Drug Trafficking Interactivity operational working group meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Head of INTERPOL’s Drugs and Criminal Organizations unit, Gianni Baldi said, “The signature of the agreement between INTERPOL and CARICC will strengthen and enhance the ongoing collaboration between our two organizations, and supports the INTERPOL General Assembly-endorsed resolutions which call for increased cooperation with regional police organizations.
“It will also provide another powerful tool to combat drug trafficking, supporting the efforts of INTERPOL member countries not only in the Central Asian region, but also for the global law enforcement community,” added Mr Baldi.
Held under the framework of INTERPOL’s Project Kalkan, the meeting brings together counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics officers from 16 countries, to discuss a range of issues including the coordination of operations and investigations to detect the criminal activities of terrorist organizations and transnational drug trafficking groups in South and Central Asia.
Launched in 2004, Project Kalkan is an INTERPOL counter-terrorism initiative focusing on Central and South Asia that is designed to populate INTERPOL’s databases with names and other information regarding terrorists and their networks in the region.
Countries participating in the working group are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, France, Georgia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, USA and Uzbekistan, as well as a delegation from the Anti-Terrorism Center of the Commonwealth of Independent States.