ISLAMABAD, Aug 3: The regulatory and operational staff of relevant agencies needs to be sensitized about illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances in Saarc countries.

This was stated by the narcotics control ministry secretary, Maj (retired) Khalid Latif Chaudhry, on Tuesday at a two-day regional seminar on precursor control. The seminar has been organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Regional Precursor Control Project, New Delhi, for Saarc countries.

Participants of the seminar from Saarc countries and Afghanistan will review progress made towards achieving United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) goals on the control of precursors, set in 1998.

"Regulatory and operational staff of relevant agencies needs to be sensitized about the subject, and the agencies should be provided with access to information, materials and equipment such as precursor test kits," Mr Chaudhry said.

He informed the participants that Pakistan had ratified the UN Convention on illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, 1998. And, in pursuance of this convention, the government has placed 14 out of 23 precursors, listed in tables I & II of the convention on the list of restricted import items.

Similarly, these precursors can be imported by pharmaceutical and industrial consumers only after verification of their due requirements by the Central Board of Revenue in consultation with ministries of health and narcotics, the secretary said.

Acetic Anhydride (AA) is the essential chemical required for conversion of opium into heroin. Since April 2, 1991, AA has been placed on the list of restricted import items and its import is now allowed to the industrial consumers only after the due verification, he added.

AA and Acetone have been declared as narcotic drugs and the penalties for their illegal import are the same as for trafficking of other narcotics, which include capital punishment as well as forfeiture of assets, Mr Chaudhry said.

The narcotics control ministry monitors and evaluates the interdiction of narcotic drugs and precursor chemicals by law enforcement agencies, periodically, through narcotics interdiction committee which meets bi-annually, he said.

Though the coordination among law-enforcement agencies for interdiction of these chemicals is highly effective, the new routes of smuggling of these precursor chemicals into Pakistan call for greater vigilance, he said.

Nonetheless, the government has adopted fixation of annual quota for import of raw material for the firms having valid registration of drugs under the drugs act 1976. While fixing quota, factors like production capacity, production plan, input- output ratio etc., are taken into account, he added.

Similarly, monitoring consumption of raw materials through a system of certification of its utilization in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals by authorized officers is also being done effectively, Maj Latif said.

In his welcome speech, UNODC project coordinator Devendra Dutt called for making significant progress towards reducing illicit drug productions, trafficking and abuse worldwide within ten years i.e. by 2008.

During the two-day seminar, policy makers and law- enforcement agencies officials from Saarc region and Afghanistan will review the progress made so far and find ways to control precursors, he said.

UNODC representative Gary Lewis, regional office for South Asia, also spoke on the occasion, and stressed the importance of the achievement of goals set by UNGASS. He also clarified that UNGASS did not only deal with the control of precursor chemicals, it also dealt with problem of drugs on a whole.