EU Action Against Drugs and Organised Crime: webinar for Black Sea prosecutors on international cooperation

On 9 February, the EU-funded Black Sea Prosecutors Network (BSPN), created by the Action against drugs and organised crime (EU-ACT) project, held a webinar dedicated to international cooperation in drug trafficking cases. The participants from Georgia, Ukraine and Romania shared their experience and examined a case study.

EU-ACT aims at building capacities to increase regional and trans-regional law enforcement cooperation and coordination in the fight against organised crime and trafficking activities along the heroin route from Afghanistan, as well as supporting the development of drugs policy and drug demand reduction activities.

Its Black Sea Prosecutors Network is a network of prosecutors specialised in the fight against drug trafficking, which contributes to building trust between professionals through direct contact, promoting the exchange of information and identification of best practices in the investigation and prosecution of drugs and its related offences, improving at a regional level the skills of prosecutors. The members of the network are Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Iran, Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine, and it is open for other countries of the Balkan Route.

The session on 9 February was focused on raising awareness and highlighting the importance of international cooperation in the investigation of drug trafficking when it has been perpetrated by organised crime groups.

The webinar highlighted how an international component is frequently identified in illegal drug traffic investigations. This may be a link with another country based on the origin or transit of the substance, the nationality of the suspect, the testimony of law enforcement officials or the expert report about the type of substance seized. Sometimes prosecutors need to conduct parallel investigations in different countries and ensure the admissibility of evidence collected abroad.

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Press release