TAJIKISTAN: MAY 2009 LAW ENFORCEMENT DEVELOPMENTS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 DUSHANBE 000782

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN (HUSHEK)
INL/AAE (BUHLER)
JUSTICE FOR (DUCOT AND NEWCOMBE)
DEFENSE FOR OSD/P

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV SNAR KCRM KJUS TI
SUBJECT: TAJIKISTAN: MAY 2009 LAW ENFORCEMENT DEVELOPMENTS

REF: DUSHANBE 723

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1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Ambassador Jacobson and Tajik Minister of
Foreign Affairs Hamrokhon Zarifi signed Amendment 9 to the INL
Letter of Agreement which provides almost $9.5 in additional
counter-narcotics, law enforcement, and justice sector
assistance to Tajikistan, and a Memorandum of Understanding
regarding bilateral cooperation in a $7 million USAID project on
Local Governance and Citizen Participation Program. Police
seized sizable quantities of hashish, heroin, and destroyed
large quantities of marijuana in the initial weeks of the annual
anti-drug operation "Poppy-2009". An unfortunate mountain-road
traffic accident uncovered 330 kilos of opium in a freight
truck. The OSCE launched (but did not open) the Border
Management Staff College. INL Dushanbe issued eight grants
totaling $300,000 to Tajik non-governmental organizations for
programs in court monitoring, legal aid to indigents, legal
education, legal representation of minors, and third party
arbitration. End summary.




2. On May 8 Ambassador Jacobson and Tajik Minister of Foreign
Affairs Hamrokhon Zarifi signed Amendment 9 to the Letter of
Agreement between Tajikistan and the United States to provide
$9,426,000 in additional assistance for narcotics control, law
enforcement, and justice sector reform. With this assistance,
the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement program has
provided more than $37 million to support Tajikistan's security,
rule of law and counter narcotics efforts since 1992.




3. On May 8 Ambassador Jacobson and Tajik Foreign Minister
Hamrokhon Zarifi signed a Memorandum of Understanding regarding
bilateral cooperation in a $7 million project on Local
Governance and Citizen Participation Program. The project has
five areas of emphasis: promoting government decentralization,
working with a Presidential Working Group to support reform
empowering local government at the all levels and including
local government and community stakeholders in the national
policy dialogue on local government reform; training to make
local governance more effective; increasing citizen awareness
of local issues and participation in local governance; improving
accountability of local governing institutions; sharing
information with the public about government budgets, progress
in decentralization, and how citizens can participate in
government. The program is funded by USAID, and implemented by
the Urban Institute.



DRUGS. DRUGS, AND MORE DRUGS




4. Police seized 48 kilograms of hashish in the border village
of Qizil Sou of Farkhor oblast in southern Tajikistan, and
arrested an Afghan national Abdurazzoq valadi Abdugaffor.
Police reported seizures on May 8 and 9 of more than 20 kilos of
heroin in two separate operations. Police officers seized two
kilograms of heroin in Dushanbe, more than 18 kilograms of
heroin at the Sino Hotel in Chkalovsk, and also 1.5 kilograms of
hashish in northern Tajikistan's Sugd's Spitamen district.
Police officers detained a local resident and an Afghan national
near the border village of Samonchi in Farkhor on May 17 on
suspicion of drug trafficking. Police seized 36 kilograms of
raw opium from them. One of them tried to flee and police
wounded him in the leg. The Drug Control Agency destroyed
500,512 marijuana bushes in Sugd's Bobojon Gafurov district.




5. On May 10 the Police and the Drug Control Agency launched an
anti-drug operation, dubbed Poppy-2009 which will continue until
November 30. The operation involves all law enforcement
agencies as well as Ministry of Agriculture, Agency for
Environmental Protection, the Committee for TV and
Radio-Broadcasting and local authorities. The Drug Control
Agency is responsible for coordinating the operation. In all,
law enforcement officers seized some 100 kilograms of narcotics
in Tajikistan over the first ten days of the operation.

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6. Officers from the Sugd Counter-Narcotics Directorate began a
large-scale effort to uncover heroin distribution rings in the
province. According to Mirzoravshan Qutbiddinov, an official
with the Sugd Counter-Narcotics Directorate, a number of
operations carried out in the province since the beginning of
the year led to the arrest of 11 heroin pushers. Narcotics
confiscated from them would have been enough for 16,000 doses.
The investigation discovered that about 80% of heroin pushers
are drug addicts themselves.




7. On May 26 Police discovered about 330 kilos of opium when
heavy truck fell off a precipice near Nurek. A heavy Kamaz
truck loaded with 15 tons of rice fell into precipice 39
kilometers northwest of the city of Nurek. The truck was moving
from GBAO's Shugnan district to Dushanbe when the driver lost
control and drove off a 150-meter precipice. The driver died on
the scene. When examining the vehicle, police officers
discovered a number of hiding places containing the raw opium.




8. Officers from the Drug Control Agency broke up a
drug-smuggling gang dealing with transporting narcotics to
Russia. Drug Control Agency officers arrested a Tajik national
in Rudaki district on May 26 on suspicion of drug trafficking.
When searching his car, drug control officers found 12 packages
containing over 11 kilos of heroin.




9. The Border Guards reported that Border Guards and officers
from the Drug Control Agency carried out a special joint
operation in GBAO's Darvoz district on May 23. The officers
spotted and tried to detain a group of drug traffickers who were
crossing the Pyanj river near the area of Zighar-Valvalak in
Darvoz. A firefight ensued and the drug traffickers retreated
to Afghanistan. Officers seized about 25 kilos of narcotics,
including 12.5 kilograms of hashish, 12.3 kilograms of heroin,
and one Kalashnikov sub-machine gun.




10. Border Guards and Drug Control Officers carried out an
operation in the area of Patkmou-Sari Ob in Darvoz on May 25 and
arrested 10 members of an organized drug-trafficking ring.
Officers seized 65 kilograms of narcotics, including five
kilograms of hashish and 58 kilograms of raw opium, as well as a
large number of weapons. The ring consisted of both Afghans and
Tajiks.



YEAR-TO-DATE SEIZURE




11. Over the first five months of this year, Tajik law
enforcement agencies seized more than 2 tons of narcotics. The
total includes 444 kilograms of heroin, 362 kilograms of raw
opium and some 1000 kilograms of cannabis.



BORDER MANAGEMENT COLLEGE




12. On May 27 the OSCE launched the Border Management Staff
College which will train border security managers and promote
co-operation between OSCE States and Partner countries,
including neighboring Afghanistan. Foreign Minister Hamrokhon
Zarifi, senior representatives from the Border Guards, the Head
of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan, Ambassador Vladimir Pryahin as
well as ambassadors and other representatives of OSCE
participating States attended the launch ceremony. The College
is scheduled to open in the fall in temporary quarters on the

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OSCE premises. A research and development centre will also be
housed at the college. Training and research will focus on the
free and secure movement of persons, border crossing procedures,
facilitating trade and transport security. The College aims to
provide a single point of knowledge delivery and promote
international standards and best practices in all aspects of
border management.



JUSTICE SECTOR DEVELOPMENTS




13. President Rahmon appointed Mahmad Zabirovich Rahimov, a
Member of Parliament, as the Director of the National
Legislative Center under the President of the Republic of
Tajikistan. President Rahmon called for the establishment of a
National Legislative Center in his annual speech to the
Parliament in 2008 and in March of 2009 he decreed its
establishment. The goal of the Center is to eliminate
contradictions in laws, improve the quality of new laws, and
bring Tajik legislation into compliance with international
treaties signed by Tajikistan. In the Soviet-era Mr. Rahimov
headed the department of commercial law at the National
University. INL Dushanbe developed a project with the Justice
Sector portfolio to train lawyers who will work in the Center.




14. Via a recently launched Justice Sector Reform program, INL
Dushanbe issued eight grants totaling $300,000 to Tajik
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to carry out programs in
court monitoring, legal aid to indigents, legal education, legal
representation of minors, and third party arbitration.
(reftel).




15. INL and IOM are setting new priorities in counter
trafficking. Emboffs met with Zeynal Hajiev, Head of IOM, to
discuss ways to improve the INL anti-trafficking project
implemented by IOM. IOM revised the project plan to focus on
training to law enforcement bodies to increase detections,
investigations, prosecutions and convictions in trafficking
cases to help Tajikistan improve its counter trafficking efforts
and avoid degrading.




16. Comment: The signing of two important documents on
cooperation is an endorsement of the three-pillar approach the
mission strategic plan: security cooperation, economic
development, and democratic reform. The agreements signify
continued Tajik Government interest in expanding cooperation in
fighting the spread of narcotics, terrorism and trafficking in
persons.




17. Comment continued: While Tajikistan's counter-drug
operation is an annual event, we see increased interest in
interagency coordination in Tajikistan and cross-border
cooperation between the Tajik and Kyrgyz DCA.
JACOBSON