A LETHAL TRANSIT

The fact that a number of hashish supply lines from Afghanistan to Russia were sealed off at the beginning of the year proves that Azerbaijan's Ministry of National Security (MNS) and Russia's Federal Service for Control of Drug Trafficking (FSKN) have been working together effectively. Three unprecedented special operations to eliminate narcotic supplies were carried out and nearly 390 kilos of Afghan-produced hashish were confiscated. This means that drug addicts were denied 807,000 single doses and the criminal world was deprived of over 150 million narcodollars

Drugs channels

The production of narcotics in Afghanistan is recognised internationally to be phenomenal in size and scope. Afghanistan leads the world in supplying not only heroin but also hashish, with the country producing up to 3,500 tons, in terms of production volumes; this is on a par with heroin. Thus the basic elements necessary to make Afghanistan a narcotics producer are in place and operating there. Narcotics from Afghanistan are distributed in three directions: along the northern route to Russia via Central Asia, along the Balkan route via Iran and the Balkan Peninsula to Europe. An offshoot from the Balkan route runs to the Russian Caucasus via the countries of the Caucasus and the states along the Caspian, including Azerbaijan.

The third direction from Afghanistan is south, via Pakistan and India and to warm waters all over the world. These routes are formed and maintained by pockets of instability, organized crime and terrorism, which also ensures that there is conflict along all narcotics transit routes. The FSKN, like Azerbaijan's Ministry of National Security, believes that cooperation with the Azerbaijani special services is "genetically necessary". Unfortunately, only about 10 per cent of the traffic is being intercepted; this figure is similar to those in the US, Europe and so on.

Region Plus was told by the Ministry of National Security's press service that illegal trafficking in narcotics is now one of the main forms of trans-national organized crime, threatening not only the nation's genetic stock, but even the future of mankind. As the revenue from the narcotics business is directed to other trans-national organized crime, and also to the financing and carrying out of terrorist actions, the danger from these crimes is magnified. And it is no coincidence that this question is being given special focus in cooperation with foreign security agencies. That is precisely why Azerbaijan views the fight against trans-national crime and, in particular, the monitoring of drugs trafficking, as a component not only of national security, but of international global security. As far as our country is concerned, this threat stems mainly from the Armenian-held territories and the existing transit routes mentioned above. Azerbaijan has called on the international community on more than one occasion to prevent the cultivation, processing and transportation of narcotics in the 'grey zones' which remain beyond the control of national and international jurisdiction: Nagornyy Karabakh and other Armenian-held Azerbaijani territories.

Statistics

The Ministry of National Security emphasized in particular that in recent years the law-enforcement agencies have stepped up the fight against the illegal trafficking and smuggling of narcotics and the use of the country's territory as a transit zone. Tenacious work has also been continued to expose the transit of drugs by trans-national and organized criminal groups along the Iran-Azerbaijan, occupied Nagornyy Karabakh-Iran-Azerbaijan, Iran-Azerbaijan-Russia-Japan and Iran-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Europe routes, and to confiscate them.

40 criminal cases have led to proceedings being taken against 130 people in the recent period (2010-2011) alone, as a result of strategic measures by the Ministry of National Security. A total of 1.5 tons of narcotic substances have been confiscated. For comparison, in 2009 1.141 tons of narcotics were confiscated and 114 people were brought to book in 38 cases. Between 2004 and 2009 the MNS confiscated over three tons of heavy narcotics (heroin, hashish, marijuana etc), which would have been transported across Azerbaijan. In this period 70 criminal cases were initiated and proceedings taken against 240 people, 25 of them foreign citizens.

Azerbaijan's MNS tackles the fight against illegal drug trafficking from several different angles. Drug trafficking is seen as a serious blow against the genetic balance and all means are being employed in the fight against it. It is a disaster that should concern not only state bodies and public organizations, but the whole of society. Focus is also on the fact that the profits made from illegal drug trafficking are the main source of funding for terrorism. It is also an indisputable fact that illegal drug trafficking is now on a par with terrorism as the most serious problem to be faced. The fight against narco-terrorism is being waged, but the problem of Nagornyy Karabakh is of greater complexity. The occupied Azerbaijani territories are beyond international control and national jurisdiction.

The MNS believes that the effectiveness of this campaign, as is the case with terrorism, depends on the level of international cooperation. For example, the MNS is cooperating effectively with the corresponding structures in neighbouring states in the fight against illegal drug trafficking along the Iran-Azerbaijan-Russia route. During a visit by Viktor Ivanov, director of the Russian FSKN, and his meeting with Azerbaijan's National Security Minister Eldar Mahmudov in January 2011, an agreement was signed on cooperation between the two countries in the campaign against illegal drug trafficking. This agreement helped to develop an exchange of information, joint investigations and operations and exchanges of work experience in the anti-narcotics sphere. As a result of 13 joint operations by the MNS and the FSKN, not only was a criminal network involved in illegal drug trafficking along this route exposed and disarmed, but 1,116 kilos of narcotics were taken out of circulation and criminal proceedings were taken against 32 people.