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RF interior minister urges to pool efforts with Tajik police in anti-drug fight

About 222,000 drug-related crimes were exposed in Russia in 2010, and a total of 46 tons of drugs were seized

ORENBURG, September 22 (Itar-Tass) — Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev has urged Russia’s and Tajikistan’s interior agencies to exert more effort to fight against drug trafficking.

Nurgaliyev is taking part in a meeting of the joint board of the Russian and Tajikistan interior ministries, which opened here on Thursday. Participants in the meeting will discuss anti-drug efforts and information exchange between the two ministries. The meeting is expected to yield a number of cooperation documents.

“A significant contribution to European security is made by our joint board. Our meetings traditionally discuss the most acute problems. Today’s agenda includes three issues, i.e. pooling efforts in exterminating drug trafficking channels, the state of information cooperation, and our plans for 2012,” Nurgaliyev said.

According to the Russian interior minister, about 222,000 drug-related crimes were exposed in Russia in 2010, and a total of 46 tons of drugs were seized.

“We have discussed the problem of anti-drug efforts more than once. Criminal groups are becoming more active. And we are concerned over the fact that they look upon our countries (Russia and Tajikistan) as a single sales market,” he noted.

Tajik Interior Minister Abdurakhim Kakhkharov also spoke in favour of closer cooperation between law enforcement agencies of the two states. “The fight against drug trafficking is one of the most important tasks of Tajikistan’s law enforcers. Over the eight months of 2011, we have seized about three tons of drugs. The overall area of lands under drug plant cultivation has somewhat decreased but it does not mean we can relax. It is necessary to square issues of our cooperation and take measures to have all our agreements implemented,” he said.

Both ministers agreed that measures are needed to improve the system of information exchange.

According to Nurgaliyev, the Russian interior ministry is introducing new information technologies. “Accelerated introduction of updated information technologies in Russian police agencies has made it possible to use such technologies in daily service. We must be quicker to prevent crimes and it is impossible without the use of information technologies,” he stressed.