Bangkok, Thailand 13 June 2025
The International Narcotics Control Board's (INCB) Global Rapid Interdiction of Dangerous Substances (GRIDS) Programme, in partnership with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), supported a five-day Advanced Narcotics Investigations Course at the US International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Bangkok, Thailand. The multi-agency training brought together 19 officers from Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, representing law enforcement, customs, and national drug control agencies.
Mr. Aleksander Piecyk, Regional Technical Officer for East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific, delivered a full-day practical session on Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) methods for detecting illicit online opioid trafficking. The workshop highlighted the Scanning of Novel Opioids on Online Platforms (SNOOP) tool, which leverages AI and machine learning to monitor suspicious online vendors and marketplaces that misuse global e-commerce platforms to distribute synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, its analogues, and related precursors and equipment.
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 in their home countries./p>
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
