KAZAKHSTAN: 2005-2006 INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 ALMATY 004354

SIPDIS

STATE FOR INL PRAHAR, MCCOWAN, HOOKER; EUR/ACE (MLONGI);
EUR/CACEN (JMUDGE)

JUSTICE FOR OIA, AFMLS, AND NDDS

TREASURY FOR FINCEN AND OTA

DEA FOR OILS AND OFFICE OF DIVERSION CONTROL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SNAR KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: 2005-2006 INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS
CONTROL STRATEGY REPORT, PART 1

REF: STATE 209561


1. In response to reftel instructions, the text of Part 1 of
the 2005 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report for
Kazakhstan follows:

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SUMMARY
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2. Despite the efforts of law enforcement agencies,
Kazakhstan continues to be an important narcotics transit
country, especially for drugs coming out of Afghanistan.
The Ministry of the Interior's Committee on Combating and
Controlling Narcotics estimates that approximately 1,400
tons of Afghanistan's heroin will move through Kazakhstan
this year via the northern Afghan route (Uzbekistan-
Kyrgyzstan-Kazakhstan). It is also estimated that
approximately 10% of these drugs will be sold in Kazakhstan.
According to data provided by the Committee, more than 19
tons of narcotics, including 130 kilograms of heroin, have
been seized since the beginning of this year. Kazakhstan is
a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention. END SUMMARY

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STATUS OF COUNTRY
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3. While there is some production of narcotics in
Kazakhstan, it is primarily a transit country. Although
Kazakhstan's existing small-scale cultivation of marijuana
and opium suggest that it could become a major producer of
narcotics in the future, evidence continues to suggest that
local production is minimal at present. The Committee's
statistics for the first nine months of 2005 show that the
annual "Operation Poppy" campaign only eradicated
approximately 15,271 square meters of illicit poppy and
marijuana cultivation. There were no discoveries of
laboratories for the production of narcotics announced this
year.


4. According to the Committee for National Security (KNB),
its operations have uncovered two new routes of movement for
opiates and heroin transiting the country: Kyrgyzstan-
Kazakhstan-China-Australia and Afghanistan-Tajikistan-
Kazakhstan-Russia-Japan. In addition, the KNB continues to
monitor the long established route through Russia to Western
Europe. During the KNB's operation "Trap" this year, more
than 1,250 kilograms of opium and more than 200 kilograms of
heroin were seized from an internationally operated
narcotics ring led by a Kazakhstani citizen of Tajik decent.
The ring laundered the proceeds received from the sale of
narcotics by creating fictitious contracts supposedly
related to the sale of wheat and flour. The KNB traced this
laundered money to bank accounts in Germany and the Baltic
countries. In an August 2005 article published in Izvestiya-
Kazakhstan newspaper, a KNB official was quoted as saying
that the investigation of only one of these bank accounts
turned up more than $1.6 million from the sale of narcotics
that had been transferred abroad. The KNB is currently
working on investigating the international ring and freezing
its assets abroad.


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III. COUNTRY ACTIONS AGAINST DRUGS IN 2005
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5. POLICY INITIATIVES: Presently, Kazakhstan is in its fifth
year of its five-year plan to fight drug trafficking. On
March 3, 2004, the President signed a decree that
established the Committee on Combating and Controlling
Narcotics within the Ministry of the Interior. This DEA-
like office coordinates efforts among law enforcement
entities, analyzes developing trends in the trafficking and
consumption of narcotics, initiates legal reform and drafts
statues pertaining to the narcotics problem in Kazakhstan,
interacts with the mass media and the press to inform the
public on counter-narcotics efforts taken by the Committee
and other governmental agencies, and engages with
international counterparts through the national branch of
Interpol. The Committee's staff is comprised of 580
officers.


6. The Committee has been operational for more than a year,
and it is already responsible for more than its present
staff can handle. According to the Head of the Committee,
Vice Minister Vyborov, only 13 officers are engaged in
serious investigative work related to the elimination of
major narcotics channels. Vice Minister Vyborov also noted
that the work of the Committee over the last year has
increased five times and that the Committee's staff must
tackle a variety of tasks ranging from submitting tenders
for narcotics search equipment to conducting undercover
work. To help the Committee to effectively conduct counter-
narcotics efforts, the Prime Minister of the Republic of
Kazakhstan suggested increasing the Committee's staff by 171
officers and to fund this staff increase out of next year's
MIA budget. The MIA requested $16.5 million for its new
three-year counter-narcotics program including over $5
million for first-year operations in 2006.


7. In a November 2005 interview with the Kazakhstankaya
Pravda newspaper, Vice Minister Vyborov called for urgent
legal reform to assist the Committee in its work. According
to Vyborov, the country needs stricter legal punishments for
those involved in drug trafficking and the sale of
narcotics, especially to minors. During a Governmental
meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, the Minister of the
Interior announced that 2,626 people had been convicted of
narcotics-related charges in 2004, but one in every four was
given a suspended sentence. He also stressed the prevalence
of repeat offenders, noting that every fifth offence was
committed by a previously-convicted criminal. Furthermore,
he noted that only one of the 316 criminals convicted in
2004 for serious narcotics offenses received the maximum
sentence of 15 years of imprisonment. On average, narcotics
dealers only receive a sentence of three years imprisonment.
Moreover, a majority of convicted criminals are paroled and
released early without serving a complete sentence.


8. In order to address these shortcomings, the MIA initiated
changes to the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan on
"Narcotics, psychotropic substances, precursors, and
countermeasures to illegal consumption" in 2005. More
specifically, the Committee's recommendations include
stricter sentences for narcotics barons and narcotics
dealers as well as more regulated procedures for the
destruction of seized narcotics to eliminate its leakage
back into the market. The Prime Minister supported these
proposed changes and promised the MIA that the GOK will
expedite the amendments to the legislation.


9. This legislative initiative is part of the first stage of
the Government's anti-narcotics program for 2006-2014.
Another major policy initiative taken by the Committee is
the creation of an internal narcotics checkpoint system
entitled "Narcotics Boundaries." The Committee plans to
establish six checkpoints to search vehicles on six major
highway intersections and three checkpoints at railroad
stations. Construction of the structures at these
checkpoints will be directly funded by INL or via an INL
grant to UNODC. According to Vice Minister Vyborov,
substantial quantities of narcotics rarely enter or leave
the country via official state border crossings, but they
almost always cross the country via major highways. The GOK
has allocated more than $700,000 for the "Narcotics
Boundaries" program. According to Vyborov, each of the nine
"Boundary" posts will be manned by a Committee officer, a
road patrol officer, a migration police officer, and a dog
handler. Three of the checkpoints are partially funded by
INL.


10. On July 8, 2005, the GOK signed the "Additional Protocol
to the Memorandum of Understanding on Narcotics Control and
Law Enforcement between the Government of the United States
of American and the Government of the Republic of
Kazakhstan" (ALOA). This agreement established a framework
for the implementation of projects designated to improve the
capacity of Kazakhstani law enforcement agencies to combat
narcotics trafficking and organized crime. The agreement
includes the provision of technical assistance aimed at
improving the ability of the Ministry of the Interior's anti-
narcotics forces to apprehend narcotics and other contraband
transiting through Kazakhstan and to improve the collection
and reporting of crime statistics with an emphasis on those
statistics and regions germane to the evaluation of GOK
progress in the fight against narcotics trafficking.


11. ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Kazakhstan continues to comply with
UN conventions on combating illicit narcotics cultivation
and production within its borders. The Committee on
Combating Narcotics, whose sole responsibility is fighting
narcotics, is in the final stages of adopting a "Master Plan
for the Control of Illicit Drugs and Organized Crime." The
Committee works closely with UNODC.


12. Accurate crime statistics in Central Asia are sparse,
but they are necessary to address narcotics trafficking
regionally. The Central Asia Regional Information
Coordination Center (CARICC) is a $6.5 million, four-year,
UNODC project. The Center's main objective is to develop
and promote regional cooperation in counter-narcotics
efforts between Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The Center will
house a shared database of regional intelligence and will
produce operational intelligence and strategic assessments
concerning narcotics trafficking and related crimes. The
CARICC project team and associated technical experts meet
monthly in Tashkent, and GOK officials have been active
participants. While the location of the center is still
undetermined, the GOK has made an official offer to house
the Center in Almaty.


13. LAW ENFORCEMENT EFFORTS: The GOK continues to actively
combat narcotics. The majority of narcotics seizures have
been undertaken by the Committee on Combating and
Controlling Narcotics (para. 5),which actively employs
undercover tactics to eliminate major narcotics channels.
More than 19 tons of various narcotics, including 130
kilograms of heroin, were seized in the first nine months of

2005.


14. Since the beginning of this year, more than 15
undercover operations were led by the Committee. Seven
major organized criminal groups and four smuggling rings
with ties to other organized crime groups in the Southern-
Kazakhstan region, the Eastern-Kazakhstan region, and the
city of Almaty were apprehended and charged with illicit
narcotics activities. More than 64 kilograms of heroin was
seized from one of these groups in April 2005. After a six-
month covert operation, Committee officers seized a
substantial load of heroin, its largest seizure of 2005,
hidden in a truck transporting tomatoes. In August 2005,
the Committee also seized four loads of marijuana, each
weighing more than a ton.


15. The annual project "Operation Poppy," which combines
intelligence collection, interdiction of smugglers,
eradication of cultivation, and demand reduction was
conducted from May 20 until October 20, 2005. More than
1,800 officers from the Ministry of the Interior, 141
officers from Customs, and 99 officers from the Committee
for National Security combined their efforts in undertaking
the operation. As a result, 3,803 individuals, including 88
CIS citizens from outside Kazakhstan, were detained for the
production, processing, and trafficking of narcotics.
"Operation Poppy" also concentrated on the control and
seizure of psychotropic substances and precursors. Overall,
this operation led to 83 criminal convictions related to the
abuse of psychotropic and controlled substances, which
represents almost a 25% increase over 2004. In addition to
these arrests, more than 15,271 square meters of illicit
poppy and marijuana were eradicated, and 4,607 other drug
related arrests were made, which is more than a 100%
increase over last year (2,134 cases in 2004).


16. In an April 2, 2005, interview with the Kazakhstanskaya
Pravda newspaper, the Head of the KNB stated that there are
no opium-producing laboratories operating on the territory
of Kazakhstan. He also noted that southern Kazakhstan has
become a new hub for narcotics trafficking and one of the
most critical regions in the country's anti-narcotics
efforts. In March 2005, after two years of cooperation with
Tajik and Russian colleagues, the KNB liquidated an
international narcotics trafficking ring based in the
southern Kazakhstan city of Shymkent. As a result, 268
kilograms of raw opium and 66 kilograms of heroin were
seized. The KNB Head added that the group had utilized a
warehouse in Shymkent to store heroin entering Kazakhstan
from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. After being re-packaged in
the warehouse, the heroin was transported in hidden car
compartments to Russia. In Shymkent alone, 238 kilograms of
opium and 36 kilograms of heroin were seized. Furthermore,
the KNB raided several auto shops in Shymkent that had begun
specializing in the construction of hidden compartments for
vehicles. During the first three months of 2005, law
enforcement officials in southern Kazakhstan seized 238
kilograms of opium, and 37 kilograms of heroin. During the
same time period in 2004, officials in the region only
apprehended 31 kilograms of opium and 45 kilograms of
heroin. Likewise, the number of narcotics addicts in the
southern region increased by 100% in the last year. Most of
these drug addicts are young, with the average age of
addicts being 14-15 years old. The youngest drug addict
presently going through a rehabilitation program in the
region is eight years old.


17. Law enforcement circles in Kazakhstan are also
seriously concerned about the expansion of synthetic drugs.
In 2005, the KNB seized more than 36,000 ecstasy pills.
While the appearance of amphetamines is increasing, the KNB
Head noted that all amphetamines seized in the country were
produced outside of Kazakhstan. Despite this increase in
non-opiate narcotics, heroin still remains the drug of
choice in Kazakhstan. In cooperation with Russia's
Committee on Combating Narcotics, KNB operatives detected 94
kilograms of heroin transiting from Tajikistan through
Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to Russia. The heroin was seized
in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk by Russian operatives.
As a result of this international cooperation, the leader
and several members of an international criminal group that
had operated in Russia and Central Asia for several years
were imprisoned for 17 years. Overall, since the beginning
of 2005, KNB eliminated 13 narcotics groups (15 in 2004),
seized 214 kilograms of heroin (225 kilograms in 2004),and
apprehended 581 kilograms of opium (106 kilograms of seized
opium in 2004).


18. CORRUPTION: Kazakhstan was rated 107 on this year's
Transparency International Corruption Perception list
(Transparency International charts perceived levels of
corruption in 146 countries). While it is difficult to
determine the extent to which corruption is associated with
narcotics trafficking, the significant corruption in
Kazakhstan inevitably is a factor hampering the country's
war on drugs. Nonetheless, there appears to be an
increasing effort to apprehend law enforcement officials
involved in corruption. According to Vice Minister Vyborov,
corruption charges were brought against 15 individuals from
the Ministry of the Interior for illegal actions involving
their operations with narcotics. The biggest temptation for
law enforcement officials to become involved in narcotics
trafficking, according to Vyborov, is the 16 tons of seized
narcotics stored in the Committee's storage facility.
Police officers are required to destroy all narcotics after
their use as court evidence, but it is likely that much of
these seized narcotics return to circulation via corrupt law
enforcement officials.


19. During the first eight months of 2005, 29 out of 39
state officials accused of corruption were convicted based
on evidence provided by KNB. Among the accused are a
district mayor, three judges, 23 police officers, and two
Financial Police officers. In all cases, the perpetrators
were sentenced to jail terms and were immediately terminated
from their government positions. One of these cases
involved a former police officer from the western region of
Kazakhstan who was arrested for selling heroin and sentenced
to ten years imprisonment in a maximum-security prison.
While these efforts demonstrate that the GOK is at least
beginning to address corruption among law enforcement
officials combating narcotics, given the money involved in
drug trafficking, it is likely that corruption will continue
to be an issue of grave concern.

20. The GOK does not encourage or facilitate either the
illicit production or distribution of narcotics,
psychotropic drugs, and other controlled substances or the
laundering of proceeds from illegal drug transactions.
There is no evidence to suggest that any senior GOK
officials are involved in such activities or that any INL-
provided equipment is being misused.

21. AGREEMENTS AND TREATIES: Kazakhstan and the United
States signed a Memorandum of Understanding on narcotics
control and law enforcement in December 2002, allowing INL
to begin implementing its first bilateral programs.


22. Kazakhstan is party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention and
has signed the Central Asian counter-narcotics Memorandum of
Understanding with UNODC. The Kazakhstan national anti-
narcotics law, passed in 1998, specifically gives the
provisions of international anti-narcotics agreements
precedent over national law (Article 3.2). Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan signed an agreement
in September 1999 on cooperation in combating transnational
crime, including narcotics trafficking. The five Central
Asia countries, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Pakistan, and
Turkey are members of the Economic Coordination Mechanism
supported by the UNODC.


23. Kazakhstan is party to the Commonwealth of Independent
States' multilateral extradition and mutual legal assistance
agreements and has bilateral agreements with several other
states. It is also actively negotiating mutual legal
assistance and anti-narcotics agreements with the
governments of Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Poland, Spain,
Thailand and Cuba. The GOK also has numerous cooperative
agreements throughout the region governing narcotics
trafficking and other narcotics-related issues.


24. CULTIVATION/PRODUCTION: Marijuana grows wild on about
1.2 million hectares of southern Kazakhstan, with the
largest single location being in the Chu Valley. It is
estimated that approximately 97% of the marijuana sold in
Central Asia originates in Kazakhstan. The production of
opium and heroin remains minimal. In the first nine months
of 2005, the Committee on Combating Narcotics identified 164
cases of the illicit cultivation of opium poppies and
marijuana. On August 16, operatives from the Committee on
Combating Narcotics apprehended a 40 year old resident of
the Chu Valley who had harvested more than one ton of
marijuana for sale. On August 21, another ton of marijuana
was seized from a separate Chu Valley resident. These cases
were the biggest marijuana seizures this year.


25. According to Vice Minister Vyborov, Kazakhstani
botanists are working on cultivating a special sort of
cannabis devoid of narcotic effects to replace the marijuana
presently growing in the Chu Valley. The scientists hope
that within five years, the planting of this non-narcotic
cannabis will force the indigenous marijuana out of the Chu
Valley.


26. DRUG FLOW/TRANSIT: Kazakhstan continues to be an
important transit country, especially for drugs coming out
of Afghanistan. The law enforcement officials of Kazakhstan
estimate that one-third of Afghanistan's 4,200 tons of
heroin will pass through Kazakhstan this year and that 10%
of transiting heroin will remain in Kazakhstan.


27. The main routes for narcotics coming into Kazakhstan
continue to run through Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.


28. DOMESTIC PROGRAMS: Kazakhstan's increasing prosperity
has also created a new market for artificial drugs,
particularly ecstasy and amphetamines. These drugs are
particularly popular among the patrons of the country's 700
night clubs. Nonetheless, the growing popularity of these
drugs poses much less threat to Kazakhstan than does the
country's ever-expanding heroin problem. Likely due to the
large amount of heroin and opium transiting Kazakhstan,
opiate addiction continues to increase in the country.
During the first nine months of 2005, it was estimated that
there were approximately 52,137 drug addicts in Kazakhstan
(47,000 in 2004).


29. The GOK has sponsored several drug awareness programs
since the beginning of this year. These included anti-drug
programs initiated as part of a pilot project on combating
narcotics among the underage and teenage population at
18,000 sports clubs, 131 sports schools, 50 clubs, and 627
after-school programs.
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IV. U.S.POLICY INITIATIVES AND PROGRAMS
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30. Despite its continued problems of drug trafficking and
abuse, Kazakhstan has made considerable progress, especially
compared to the rest of the region. Given Kazakhstan's
great potential as a partner in the fight against narcotics,
our overall goal is to develop a long-term cooperative
relationship between the police and investigative services
of the United States and those of Kazakhstan. This
relationship will enhance the professional skills of
officers and improve the organization and management of GOK
law enforcement services thereby increasing their
effectiveness in the fight against illegal narcotics. All
of our assistance provided this past year is intended to
further this larger long-term goal.


31. To allow for the more efficient inspection of trucks
and vehicles, INL provided an inspection hangar at the Ulken
counter-narcotics checkpoint this year. The Ulken
checkpoint is approximately 400 km northeast of Almaty. The
construction was completed in October 2005 and is located on
a major highway with a constant flow of trucks and vehicles
from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. INL acquired
and transferred the equipment needed to search vehicles at
the Ulken checkpoint. Ulken will serve as a model for two
internal MIA checkpoints in Kyzyltu and Beineu which INL
will equip, and for the remaining five checkpoints which
UNODC will construct with INL funds.


32. INL continued to cooperate with the Border Guard
Service. As part of a larger project aimed at combating
narcotics trafficking in Kazakhstan, INL provided search
equipment for the Aul and Zheshkent Border Guard posts on
the Russian-Kazakhstani border. During joint discussions of
funds and projects for 2006, the Border Guards requested
that we change our focus from working on the Russian-
Kazakhstani border to working on the Kyrgyz-Kazakhstani
border. The Border Guards felt that it made more sense to
concentrate on controlling the traffic of incoming narcotics
from Kyrgyzstan as opposed to controlling the outflow of
narcotics from Kazakhstan to Russia on the long stretch of
the Russian-Kazakhstani border.


33. THE ROAD AHEAD: Despite its current problems,
Kazakhstan is making serious efforts to end its status as a
narcotics transit country. The GOK is working to refine its
laws related to narcotics, to develop its police services
and to cooperate with the international community and
regional partners. Furthermore, it is better targeting its
approach to anti-narcotics work, is trying to curb corrupt
law enforcement officials, and is establishing stricter
punishments for drug-related crimes. Corruption, failure to
devote sufficient resources to training and equipment, and a
weak infrastructure remain serious problems, but trends are
encouraging.

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V. STATISTICAL TABLES
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34. Not available.


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VI. CHEMICAL CONTROL
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35. Based on currently available data, Kazakhstan is not a
producer of chemical precursors used in narcotics
production. Most of the precursors available in the country
are meant to be used in the oil refining industry.
According to the Statistics Committee of the Prosecutor
General's Office, during the first nine months of 2005, more
than 88 liters of liquid precursors were seized. The
Statistics Committee, however, did not release any
additional information about this seizure.

ORDWAY