Joint South Asian battle against narcotics, human smuggling
Sri Lanka will from next month be part of a new regional grouping to share intelligence to prevent drug trafficking, human smuggling and organised crime, a senior official said yesterday.
National Dangerous Drugs Control Board Chairman Nilanga Samarasinghe told the Sunday Times the groundwork for this had been laid and later this month, the leaders of several Asian countries would sign an agreement.
This Indian Ocean Monitoring Centre would be set up to prevent drug trafficking, money laundering, human trafficking and transnational organised crime in the region, he said.
This comes after the South Asian Regional Intelligence sharing Council (SARIC) held its inaugural meeting in New Delhi in April in coordination with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Nepal, Myanmar, Bhutan and Bangladesh are members of the council.
Pakistan was left out initially but it was later decided to admit any Asian country which wished to join, Dr. Samarasinghe said.
The council at its three-day meeting decided that its secretariat would be set up in New Delhi and top intelligence officers would be among those recruited to effectively coordinate the battle against narcotics, human smuggling and other crimes.
President Maithripala Sirisena addressing a jubilee summit in the Maldives on Monday pledged full cooperation for the Asian partnership to combat narcotics, human smuggling and related crimes
Dr. Samarasinghe said the head of the UNODC was expected to visit Sri Lanka next month,