10/01/2022
Four years supporting policies against drugs and the prevention of their consumption in more than 20 countries on the heroin route
Since 2017, the EU-ACT project, funded by the European Union and managed by FIIAPP, has supported the investigation of drug trafficking and the organised networks that are financed with such trafficking. To this end, specialists from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior carried out activities together with their counterparts from France, Italy and the United Kingdom in more than twenty countries in the area known as the “heroin route”.
During the project’s four years, drug-related policies were supported by endorsing police and judicial action in order to increase their effectiveness and operational cooperation. Likewise, initiatives were promoted to prevent the use of drugs and treat drug addiction.
Among other milestones, it has been possible to develop national action plans on drugs in several countries such as the Ukraine, Tanzania and Georgia; legislative changes have been promoted in relation to psychoactive substances, drugs and medications and penalties for drug possession. Support has been provided for the creation of organisational structures such as the working group on forensic drugs in Ukraine, specialised police units in Kyrgyzstan, a new national drug observatory in Georgia and the introduction of the container control unit in Pakistan.
Multiple training actions were carried out, such as the rehabilitation programme for inmates in Ukraine; police training in Kyrgyzstan and Moldova; drug investigation for police and prosecutors in Georgia; for drug addiction professionals in Tanzania; addiction prevention for schools in Pakistan; as well as guidance on the treatment of new psychoactive substances in Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Pakistan and Belarus.
Regarding operational results, support in the seizure of more than 14 metric tons of drugs and assistance in securing the arrest of five suspects considered to be “high value targets” by EUROPOL.
Regarding cooperation between countries, it participated in the creation of the Black Sea Prosecutors Network, trans-regional operational meetings were organised connecting South Asia and Africa, and operational exchanges were fostered between the European Police College (CEPOL), the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and EUROPOL.
The activities carried out were made visible in the main forums related to the fight against drugs and organised crime, such as in the meetings of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, and in multilateral forums such as the Paris Pact and various international congresses and a steady commitment has been made regarding the EUROPOL European multidisciplinary platform process against criminal threats (EMPACT).
