Drugs smuggled from Central Asia into Russia go via Kazakhstan - police
PETROPAVLOVSK. March 20 (Interfax) - Kazakh and Russian drug control officers have converged to discuss trans-boundary cooperation in the deterrence of drug trafficking from Central Asia into Russia.
The meeting held in Petropavlovsk, the administrative center of the North Kazakhstan region, was attended by heads of the Kazakh Interior Ministry's Drug Control Committee and the Russian Federal Drug Control Service's departments in the Kurgan, Omsk and Tyumen regions, the North Kazakhstan region police department said.
"Our meeting was not just another ceremony of signing a joint action plan. Our purpose is much more profound: we aim to create a workable and efficient system for the deterrence of crime, which, as you know, does not have either nationality or borders," North Kazakhstan region police department chief Akhan Kazhkenov said at the meeting.
Border districts have some problems in combating drug trafficking. Specialists say that the geographic position of the North Kazakhstan region is the main cause of drug transit.
This region is a bridge connecting Central Asia and Russia, first deputy department head Duman Tayev said.
"The actual transparency of borders between the adjoining regions and the impossibility of covering the entire border perimeter encourages the penetration of drugs into our region and their trafficking further on, into the Russian Federation," Tayev said.
