INCB rolls out advanced analytics tools for OCO partners and Governments in the Pacific

VIENNA 18 December 2020 - The INCB Global Rapid Interdiction of Dangerous Substances (GRIDS) Programme provided access to and training on its latest intelligence tools for Oceania Customs Organisation (OCO) and its members located throughout the Pacific. The training, arranged in close partnership with OCO and within the framework of the 2019 OCO-INCB Memorandum of Understanding, aimed to facilitate the sharing of information and development of actionable intelligence for customs officers in the Pacific.

Recognizing the critical role that customs administrations play in intercepting emerging dangerous substances particularly in the Pacific, 11 frontline and OCO officers in Australia, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau received access to and training on INCB's newly launched GRIDS Intelligence tools. GRIDS Intelligence is a state-of-the-art secure analytics package that visualizes global real-time NPS trafficking incidents providing intelligence profiles of dangerous non-scheduled substances for profiling and risk-assessment by law and regulatory enforcement focal points.

Experts used the training as an opportunity to highlight the emergence of Pacific Island States as trafficking points for synthetic opioids to destinations such as Australia, Europe and the United States. GRIDS Intelligence was recently used to profile trafficking patterns and modus operandi for non-scheduled dangerous substances in the Pacific and directly resulted in numerous interdictions of synthetic opioids made recently by authorities in Fiji. "GRIDS Intelligence empowers national and regional agencies to make their own real-time NPS trafficking assessments", said Fumio Ito, manager of INCB Project ION. "It's designed to meet the intelligence needs of frontline officers and was developed in coordination with INCB Project ION Task Force members, international partners and data scientists from top universities".

Launched in February 2020, the INCB Global Rapid Interdiction of Dangerous Substances (GRIDS) Programme contributes to implementation of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 73/192 and CND Resolution 62/8, which calls for international cooperation to address and counter the world drug problem, by responding to requests by Member States to enhance their law enforcement capacity to detect and identify new psychoactive substances and promote information sharing and cross-border cooperation.

The GRIDS Programme, Project ION, the OPIOIDS Project, the IONICS platform and GRIDS Intelligence, receive support from the Governments of Australia, Canada, Japan, and the United States. This training in the Pacific was made possible through investments by the Government of Australia.

Click here to learn more about the GRIDS Programme

Click here to learn more about the OPIOIDS Project

Click here to learn more about the Project ION


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