CEPOL’s EUROMED Police project steps up the capacity of the EU’s South Partner Countries to fight drug trafficking

Drug trafficking represents a huge source of revenue for organised crime, while globalisation is increasing the interconnections between criminal groups, and the latest technological developments provide new means to perpetrate this kind of crime.

Like the rest of the globe, the Middle East and North Africa are negatively affected by drug trafficking, and the region constitutes a transit zone towards the European markets. For this reason, CEPOL’s EUROMED Police project is active in the provision of specialised training to increase the capacity of law enforcement officers in the South Partner Countries of the EU.

Last month, the EUROMED Police project implemented a course at the International Training Centre in Budapest with the participation of officers from Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, the Palestinian Authority, as well as from AFRIPOL. The five-day training focused on the production, trafficking and distribution of cannabis, cocaine, heroin and synthetic drugs in the Mediterranean basin.

Furthermore, the activity provided insights into special investigation techniques, such as controlled deliveries and intelligence units, as well as vehicle concealments and the handling of informants. The participants also took part in a series of exercises and simulations on the seizure and dismantling of laboratories used to produce synthetic drugs, paying particular attention to the safety measures to protect the officers operating in this type of environment.

This course was only one of the activities implemented by the EUROMED Police on the topic of drug trafficking, as the project action in this field also encompasses a train-the-trainers programme addressed to experts and instructors from law enforcement agencies in the EU’s South Partner Countries.

The second phase of the train-the-trainers programme took place from 7 to 11 May in Amman, Jordan, consisting of the implementation of the training curriculum developed during the first phase of the programme. 

This activity was addressed to trainers from law enforcement agencies in Lebanon, Jordan, and Tunisia and focused on the available instruments for international cooperation, online drug trafficking, and the guidelines to follow when implementing training on drug trafficking addressed to active officers.

The train-the-trainers programme will enable skilled experts in the EUROMED Police partner countries to cascade the acquired knowledge within their organisation, thus making training more sustainable and favouring the ownership of the developed course on drug trafficking.