ALMATY, September 16 (RIA Novosti) – The Afghan drug industry poses a major threat to international security, and this must be admitted by the United Nations, Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Deputy Secretary General Valery Semerikov told the press Tuesday during the closing ceremony of the "Channel-Valley" anti-drug operation, conducted by the organization's members.
"CSTO member countries stand ground on the need for the United Nations to recognize the drug industry phenomenon in Afghanistan a threat to international peace and security," Semerikov said.
Semerikov noted that CSTO filed such request to the United Nations two and a half years ago, and stressed that an official UN statement would allow many international organizations to fight drug production in Afghanistan more efficiently, adding that the current situation in Afghanistan does not allow the CSTO countries to "count on a rapid decrease in "heroin pressure."
"The International drug lobby is attempting to revise the key UN conventions on drugs and is vigorously imposing the polemic on the so-called "soft drugs" legalization," the CSTO deputy secretary general said, underscoring that such policy is a "disturbing signal, the consequences of which can weaken the basis of the existing international drug control system."
According to the Kazakh Interior Ministry press service, the five-day "Channel-Valley" anti-drug operation, aimed at destroying channels of drug smuggling from Afghanistan and China to the CSTO countries, has led to the seizure of over four tons of various drugs, including marijuana and heroin.
The operation was conducted jointly by the anti-drug agencies of the CSTO members – Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan – and included observers from Afghanistan, China and Interpol.
