UNODC opens the 21st border liaison office in Quang Binh province

Thứ Sáu, 15/01/2021, 16:05

On 13 January, the United Nations on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in cooperation with the Counter-narcotics police department (CNPD), Ministry of Public Security and Quang Binh provincial police department organized an opening ceremony for a new Border Liaison Office (BLO) in Cha Lo, Quang Binh province.



The new BLO will be operated in the border with Khammouane province and Savannakhet province, Lao PDR. It joins BLO network and becomes the 21st supported by UNODC.

Speaking in the ceremony, Pol. Maj. Gen Do Duc Binh, Deputy Director of CNPD said: “During these years, the situation of drugs and crime in the border areas with Lao PDR is sophisticated. They have developed more transnational drug trafficking rings to deliver drugs from the “Golden Triangle” to Viet Nam. Then, hundreds of trafficking rings, spots andnew routes are formed across the border to Viet Nam.”

Quang Binh province, which shares over 200km of border lines,has a plenty of border gates and small roads. It is one of the hot spots for transnational drug trafficking. During 2020, the police in the province have arrested 10 cases involving 12 drug traffickers from Lao PDR to Quang Binh province. Nearly 70,000 pills of synthetic drugs and 249 kg of ice methamphetamine were confiscated.

Attending online, Ms. Valentina Pancieri, Regional Coordinator – Law enforcement and training affairs, UNODC Border Management programme said: “Border management and cross border cooperation remain key objectives in the ASEAN agenda where border management cooperation is welcomed to safeguard regional connectivity from transnational crime. BLOs are a great tool towards this goal.”

Pol. Maj. Gen Do Duc Binh, Deputy Director of CNPD.

Pol. Maj. Gen Binh also affirms the vital role of BLO mechanism in information sharing and international cooperation in terms of countering against drug criminals. “Thanks to the network, we have cooperated with neighboring countries to detect a number of largecases related to drugs and foreign suspects.”

In the region, UNODC has supported more than 100 BLOs in Viet Nam, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, Myanmar and China. In addition, UNODC has conducted trainings and conferences to enhance capacity of collecting evidence, sharing and analyzing information as well as updating new trends and trafficking routes to BLO members in Viet Nam. UNODC also supports the coordination of investigating transnational organized crime.

UNODC also provides BLO Cha Lo with basic and advanced equipment 

Along with the event today, UNODC also provides BLO Cha Lo with basic and advanced equipment including day and night binoculars, tablets, projectors, laptops, office equipment, cameras, recordings, flycams, printers, borescopes, and wifi routers.

Closing the event, Senior Colonel Nguyen Tien Hoang Anh, Deputy Director of Quang Binh provincial police department, Chief of BLO Cha Lo said that they will immediately build up a plan to connect with authorities in Lao PDR to follow and detect the transnational organized crime in the border areas to prevent the risks of drugs into Viet Nam.

BLO establishment is one of the activities of UNODC Border Management Programme. In 2021, UNODC Viet Nam plans to open another BLO in Gia Lai province, which increases the number of BLO in Vietnam into 22.


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