Capacity Building Training for Moroccan Officers Combating Trafficking in Dangerous Substances
26 - 29 April 2023 Rabat and Casablanca, Morocco - The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) Global Rapid Interdiction of Dangerous Substances (GRIDS) Programme conducted a series of back-to-back capacity building training events for Moroccan enforcement and postal officers. The training events raised awareness of trafficking and health harms caused by emerging dangerous new psychoactive substances (NPS) and non-medical synthetic opioids and built multi-agency relationships to facilitate information exchange, intelligence development via INCB proprietary communication and targeting platforms, that facilitate long-term cross-border cooperation.
The first training event occurred on the 26-27 April in Rabat, Morocco involved ten enforcement officers from police, customs administration, Royal Moroccan Gendarmerie and the Directorate of Migration and Border Surveillance.
Professor Jallal Toufiq INCB Board Member opened the event stating, " the emergence and prevalence of dangerous substances, namely new psychoactive substances, non-medical synthetic opioids, and their precursors, has drastically changed patterns of manufacture, trafficking, and abuse of these substances, causing serious health harms at the national, regional, and global levels."
Photo: Moroccan officers accessing INCB communication tools at the training event using mobile applications.
The second training event was held on 29 April at the Moroccan Post Headquarters in Casablanca, Morocco with 25 postal officers participating. The events enhanced the knowledge, skills ability and confidence of officers to identify and safe interdict various dangerous substances and common modus operandi of traffickers in the region. Officers also received access to state-of-the-art counter-trafficking systems including the Project ION Incident Communication System (IONICS), GRIDS Intelligence HD and ELITE, to support Government domestic and international trafficking investigations.
Photo: Multi-agency enforcement officers using GRIDS rapid training tablets for practical targeting exercises
The GRIDS Programme is the International Narcotics Control Board´s global initiative addressing the international trafficking aspects of emerging dangerous substances. Launched in February 2020, the Programme contributes to the implementation of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 73/192, 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, and Commission on Narcotic Drugs Resolution 62/8. The GRIDS Programme also contributes to the 2030 Agenda, particularly the Sustainable Development Goals on good health and wellbeing, sustainable cities and communities, peace, justice and strong institutions, and partnerships
The Board's Global Rapid Interdiction of Dangerous Substances (GRIDS) Programme and Project ION and OPIOIDS Project support Governments' capacity to respond to changing trafficking, illicit manufacture, marketing and sales of NPS, non-medical synthetic opioids and fentanyl-related substances by providing real-time communication, facilitating information exchange and intelligence development that interdict distribution of dangerous substances.
The Board's Global Rapid Interdiction of Dangerous Substances (GRIDS) Programme and its Project ION and OPIOIDS Project is supported by the Governments of Canada, Japan, and the United States of America. This event was possible thanks to generous support from the United States of America Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement.
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