MERIDIAN, Miss. - Mississippi National Guard Counterdrug Program (MSNGCDP) personnel in conjunction with the Mississippi National Guard State Partnership Program (SPP) personnel visited, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Dec. 14-18 to conduct an information exchange.
The information exchange focused on informing Mississippi’s state partner, Uzbekistan, how the MSNGCDP uses a “Whole of Government” approach to support law enforcement agencies in deterring, detecting and interdicting illicit narcotics.
“Uzbeks were highly interested in current drug trends, prices, technological capabilities, search warrants, interdiction stops and information provided to the public on the dangers of illicit narcotics,” Mississippi National Guard Counterdrug Coordinator/Commandant, Maj. Gary Crist, said.
Counterdrug subject matter experts (SME) gave presentations to members from four of Uzbekistan’s government agencies: Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Internal Affairs, State Border Protection and the Armed Forces Academy. Presentations focused on the MSNGCDP and the Regional Counterdrug Training Academy’s ability to provide support and training to law enforcement agencies.
The State Department Website notes Uzbekistan is a significant transit country for heroin, opium, hashish and marijuana and Uzbekistan’s borders afford drug traffickers ample opportunity to enter undetected via thousands of miles of open desert, rugged mountains. (http://www.state.gov/j/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2014/vol1/223093.htm)
Because of this, borders and railways were a major topic of discussion.
The exchange also allowed for the attendees to share dialogue about the tactics each uses in conducting similar tasks regarding interdiction of illicit drugs and the disruption of Transnational Criminal Organization activities.
MSNGCDP provided strategy, policy and guidance, along with resources, to assess security cooperation activities.
Additionally, in conjunction with the SPP program, the counterdrug SMEs worked on building trust to strengthen their state partnership.
| Date Taken: |
12.18.2015 |
| Date Posted: |
02.01.2016 15:27 |
| Story ID: |
187594 |
| Location: |
MERIDIAN, MISSISSIPPI, US |
| Web Views: |
131 |
| Downloads: |
0 |
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This work, MSNGCDP teams with SPP to conduct information exchange with Uzbekistan, by MSgt Betty Squatrito-Martin, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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