 Polish Experts Share Experience on Liquidation of Clandestine Drug Laboratories
A workshop on detecting and liquidating of clandestine drug laboratories was held in the International Training Centre for Migration and Human Trafficking of the Academy of the Ministry of the Interior on October 21-23 under the guidance from the Polish forensic experts. More than 30 Belarusian criminologists and experts from the counter narcotics and organized crime units took part in the workshop.
Polish law enforcement bodies have extensive experience in detecting and liquidating clandestine drug laboratories. First drug laboratories were found in Poland 25 years ago.
Drug production is a lucrative business. According to expert of the Central Investigation Bureau of the Polish Police Waldemar Krawczyk, some Polish laboratories produce about 6-8 kilograms of amphetamine within one cycle. The profit from one cycle totals about 0,000.
Clandestine drug laboratories are highly explosive and may present considerable risk for the law enforcement personnel at the moment of liquidation. Therefore, police staff should have special training on the treatment of reagents and equipment used by criminals in their clandestine laboratories.
In 2005, Belarusian law enforcement bodies liquidated two clandestine drug laboratories; in 2006, there were three of such labs; in 2007 there were seven; this shows the growth trend, therefore Polish experience is of current importance to us.
During the seminar, experts also discussed such issues as modern drug situation, synthesis of amphetamines, precursors, equipment used in clandestine laboratories, risks and threats that law enforcement officials face during liquidation of clandestine drug laboratories, collection of material evidence: mixtures of reagents, records, equipment, sampling, profiling of amphetamines, new synthetic drugs.
The rich program of the workshop helped the organizers to use these three days to present information that is designed for the two-week professional training program in Poland.
Within the framework of this event, Polish side also presented Belarusian specialists with study materials including textual and video information that could later be used to teach the staff of the counter narcotics and anti-organized crime departments as well as students from the Academy of the Ministry of the Interior. |
