The training was conducted by international experts and aimed to increase Uzbek law enforcement’s operational awareness to detect and identify chemical precursors used for drug production and conduct backtracking investigations to trace the sources of diverted chemicals. The course participants included officers and forensics experts from the National Security Service, the State Customs Committee and the Internal Affairs Ministry.

"The training course followed on the recommendations of the OSCE Regional Seminar on Cross-border Co-operation in Central Asia with Afghanistan to Combat Illicit Drugs Trafficking, which took place last November in Tashkent," said Bernard Rouault, the Senior Project Officer of the Office of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan. "It is another example that shows the Government of Uzbekistan takes seriously the threats connected with increased drug production, and is firm in its commitment to implement all measures to prevent precursors trafficking."

"The course was also the result of good co-operation between the OSCE and the UNODC to standardize the proposed training modules for law enforcement in Uzbekistan and the region."

The course programme was developed by the OSCE Secretariat’s Strategic Police Matters Unit in co-operation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. It is part of an initiative by the Project Co-ordinator to assist the government of Uzbekistan to combat illicit drug trafficking.