In 2008 Russia’s Interior Ministry is to double its number of trainees in anti-narcotic units in Afghanistan and Central Asian countries, deputy-head of the Russian Interior Ministry’s personnel department Maj-Gen Vladimir Kubyshko has said.

"The training of staff in anti-narcotic structures in Afghanistan and Central Asian countries in the form of an Interior Ministry training centre is of top priority to us, as the volume of narcotics being traded in the world is not diminishing," he said at the graduating ceremony of 21 anti-terrorist unit employees at the Russian Interior Ministry’s Russia-wide institute for further training.

Accordingly, eight groups of 18 people will carry out their training at the institute in 2008, Kubyshko said. At the moment there are four groups of the same size training there every year, he added.

According to UN data, "in 2006 4,500 tonnes of opium were produced, 450 tonnes of heroin and 900 tonnes of cocaine", Kubyshko said, adding that in this context the fight against narcotics in the whole world should be dealt with in a systematic way and on a high level.

Apart from lessons at the institute, in order for the students to familiarize themselves in more detail with Russia’s law enforcement activities, educational visits to the Gosnarkokontrol [Federal Service for Control over the Trafficking of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances] directorate for Moscow Region were organized, as well as to the Domodedovo court and airport, where they familiarized themselves with the judicial system and the work carried out at the [airport] terminal when narcotics are discovered in baggage and parcels, Kubyshko said.

A total of 102 employees of anti-narcotic structures were trained in 2006-2007, including 31 from Afghanistan, 18 from Uzbekistan, 16 from Turkmenistan, 15 from Tajikistan, 12 from Kyrgyzstan and ten from Kazakhstan, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.