Indonesia’s National Narcotics Agency (BNN) has joined up with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) to help law enforcement trainers from Southeast Asia and Mongolia strengthen their skills in tackling drug trafficking. This collaboration highlights the region’s commitment to improving its response to organized crime.
The training, will take place in Bogor, West Java, in August 2024. The program is designed to enhance the abilities of law enforcement trainers from Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Mongolia.
BNN’s Director of Enforcement and Pursuit, Roy Hardi Siahaan, stressed that the program aims to equip trainers with practical, standardized skills to respond effectively to drug trafficking and other challenges.
“This program is not just about skill-building—it’s about fostering stronger regional cooperation and creating lasting improvements in our law enforcement capabilities,” Siahaan said.
The training also focuses on helping trainers develop strategies for managing border areas, which are often vulnerable to drug trafficking. Siahaan explained how drug trafficking networks are taking advantage of different legal systems and weak border security to conduct their operations which poses a real threat to many states in the region.
Siahaan stressed that Southeast Asian countries need a unified approach to law enforcement training, so efforts to strengthen these skills can make a real impact in the fight against drug trafficking.
Nabiel Abdul Karim Hayaze, National Programme Officer for UNODC Indonesia, noted that this regional training of trainers marks the first time BNN and UNODC have worked together on such an initiative. He expressed hope that the program would produce highly capable trainers who can contribute to future UNODC-led training efforts.
This cooperation between Indonesia and UNODC shows the importance of regional cooperation alongside capacity-building in the ongoing battle against organized crime in the Southeast Asia region.
