A two-week specialized training for personnel of the forensic departments of the law-enforcement agencies of Central Asian countries started today at the Drug Control Agency under the Tajik president, the head of the Tajik DCA forensic department, Bakhtiyor Karimov, has told Avesta.

He said the training course had been arranged by the efforts of experts from the laboratory and scientific department of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

In addition to the training course, the selected forensic departments of the Central Asian countries will be provided with a significant volume of assistance by handing over special equipment.

The project "Boosting the potential of Central Asian expert laboratories" was designed with the aim of enhancing the potential of the Central Asian countries’ forensic departments to support the efforts of the law-enforcement agencies in combating the illicit circulation of narcotics and precursors at national and regional levels.

Karimov said specialists from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan were attending the training.

The head of the DCA public relations centre, Avaz Yuldoshev, said synthetic narcotic substances manufactured at laboratories in European countries had appeared in the world market.

"At present, there are no such narcotic substances in Tajikistan, but there is a danger of their emergence in the black markets of Central Asia, and in our country in particular," Yuldoshev said.