Bangkok, Thailand 26-27 March 2025
Bangkok, Thailand 26-27 March 2025 - The International Narcotics Control Board's (INCB's) Global Rapid Interdiction of Dangerous Substances (GRIDS) Programme in coordination with the United States DEA participated in a five-day, multi-agency capacity-building Advanced Narcotics Investigations Course at the US International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) Centre in Bangkok, Thailand. The training included 32 participants from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam, representing various agencies including police, customs, national drug authorities, and prosecutors' offices.
Mr. Aleksander Piecyk, Regional Technical Officer for East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific led a full-day, hands-on training session on Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) approaches for monitoring and identifying illicit online opioid sales. The module featured practical training on the new Scanning of Novel Opioids on Online Platforms (SNOOP) tool, which provides details of suspicious online vendors and marketplaces that appear to exploit global e-commerce platforms to traffic synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, its analogues, as well as the equipment and precursors used in their manufacture.
Photo: Officers discussing many of the OSINT tools available to use for online investigations
The training also included a comprehensive overview of Operational Security (OPSEC) fundamentals that investigators should apply when conducting online investigations, to safeguard both themselves and their organizations. In the afternoon, officers were given access to the SNOOP tool and, working in teams, were presented with real-life scenarios. They were tasked with identifying actual vendors selling dangerous substances targeting their respective countries. Each team was required to report on their methodology and findings at the end of the course. Using the SNOOP tool and their newly acquired OSINT skills, each team was able to identify a suspicious vendor or marketplace operating in their home country and extract actionable intelligence including names, email addresses, phone numbers and social media handles to initiate an investigation upon completion of the course and returning to their duties at home.
The Board's Global Rapid Interdiction of Dangerous Substances (GRIDS) Programme operates under the International Narcotics Control Board's unique Article 35 (1961) treaty mandate that supports Governments' capabilities to exchange information on trafficking, illicit manufacture, marketing and sales of NPS, synthetic opioids, fentanyls and related chemicals, by providing real-time communication, and capabilities to facilitate information exchange and intelligence development with the aim to interdict distribution of dangerous substances.
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
