SCO group on narcotics discusses methods to reject precursors to Afghan trafficking cartels: NCB

New Delhi, 18 Jan: India, Pakistan, China and five other Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member-nations on Wednesday “deliberated” on various issues related to narcotics trafficking in their shared regions, an official statement said.
Various issues related to drugs trafficking were discussed during the expert working group on precursor control of SCO member states that was virtually hosted by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), India’s federal anti-drugs agency.
An official statement issued by the NCB said India is holding the presidency of the SCO for the first time since becoming a permanent member in 2017.
Five meetings related to drug menace are being hosted by India and this meeting was part of that.
The meeting, held over a Internet-based virtual medium, was attended by representatives from all eight SCO members that includes Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan and was inaugurated by NCB director general S N Pradhan, the agency said.
In his opening remarks, the NCB chief “reminded the forum that the proximity to major heroin producing regions has entailed for SCO member countries to have closer cooperation and coordination on matters related to drug trafficking”.
He further underscored the need for working as a team to counter the diversion and illicit supply of precursor chemicals which are backbone for production of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, it said.
“The meeting deliberated on various aspects of trafficking in precursor chemicals, sharing of the best practices in precursor control, regulations on precursors envisaged by the member states, mechanism of sharing information and ways to deny access of precursor chemicals by Afghan-based drug trafficking syndicates,” the statement said.
The meeting, it said, also reviewed the implementation of the work plan (2021-2023) of the SCO anti-drug strategy (2018-2023).
“The outcome of the meeting resulted into deliverable actions by the member states which agreed to work in tandem and cohesion,” the NCB said.
A meeting of expert group on law enforcement and drug-related crimes of the SCO members will also be similarly hosted by the NCB on February 15, it said.
The SCO is a Eurasian political, economic and security organisation. It is the world’s largest regional organisation in terms of geographic scope and population, covering approximately 60 per cent of the area of Eurasia, 40 per cent of the world population, and more than 30 per cent of the global GDP. (PTI)