China assures support to ANF for curbing drug trafficking

Two sides discuss issues of mutual concerns to control illegal drug trade through CPEC

ISLAMABAD: The National Narcotics Control Committee (NNCC) of China and the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) on Tuesday agreed to take joint measures to curb drug trafficking in Pakistan.

The NNCC has also decided to provide additional resources to the ANF for the establishment of check posts and deployment of drug interdiction teams at terminal points in Gwadar and Sost. The check posts would be provided support in all aspects by relevant Chinese authorities.

The developments took place during the visit of an NNCC delegation, accompanied with the representatives of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), to the ANF headquarters.

The delegation included NNCC Deputy Secretary-General Deshing Xiong, UNODC Regional Office South East Asia and Pacific representative Jermey Douglas and UNODC Pakistan representative Cesar Guedes. ANF DG Major General Musarrat Nawaz Malik warmly welcomed the guests.

On the occasion, the issues of mutual concerns in the field of controlling drugs and precursor trafficking through China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) were also given special attention.
It was further jointly decided that the unanimous stance of Pakistan and China on the issue of maritime cooperation and other drug-related issues would be reaffirmed at the regional and international forums.



As a manifestation of the resolve, the Border Liaison Office (BLO) has been recently inaugurated at the Pak-China border at Sost which would help the two countries share real-time information and carry out joint intelligence-based operations to effectively counter drug trafficking and related activities across the border.

The NNCC deputy secretary general assured upgrading the technical and operational capacity of the ANF by establishing bilateral support mechanism in areas like database. He further assured that China being the world’s largest producer of precursor chemical would make its best efforts to counter illicit use and trafficking of chemicals, especially routing to the Pakistani border.

The secretary-general said the two countries are strategic partners tied into an all-weather friendship, which is based on strong mutual trust, excellent cooperation and convergence of views on regional and global issues, including counter-narcotics cooperation.



Meanwhile, the representatives of the UNODC and the UNODC Regional Office South East Asia and Pacific assured moral and financial support to the ANF and the NNCC for long-lasting mutual cooperation for countering narcotics.

The representatives of the two countries agreed to further augment the existing level of bilateral counter-narcotics cooperation by supporting each other’s anti-drug initiatives through the establishment of bilateral interaction mechanisms at appropriate levels.
The guests were given a short brief of the ANF achievements in curbing the drug menace, which was warmly lauded.
The ANF DG thanked the honourable guests with the resolve to provide all possible services at regional, continental and global level to control illicit drugs and precursor trafficking to make the region and the world drug-free.