Pubdate: Tue, 10 Aug 2004 Source: Times of India, The (India) Copyright: Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. 2004 Contact: http://www.timesofindia.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/453 Cited: Drug Enforcement Administration http://www.dea.gov U.S. TO TRAIN ANTI-NARCOTICS CELLS MUMBAI: The anti-narcotics cells of the Mumbai police and Central agencies may not have sufficient manpower or large doses of funds to take on drug mafia. But that is being compensated with new training and investigative skills. Five officers of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) are in Mumbai to conduct a fortnight-long training programme for police, customs, Narcotics Control Bureau personnel. Thirty-six officers are participating in the programme which began on Monday. A similar programme was recently held in Delhi and are also planned in Kolkata and Chennai. A senior officer of theDEA stated "We will discuss issues like investigation techniques, drug identification, intelligence gathering through informants and other sources and also share our experience in combating the drug mafia in the US. The programme will also help us to understand the drug problem in India." He added that last December, DEA members had flown to India to figure out operational and training needs of Indian agencies. An officer from the Mumbai police who participated in the programme told TOI "The programme will be beneficial for us. We can also share information on international drug traffickers with US officials." According to the police officer, the US government has taken such initiatives to check the inflow of drugs into their country. "Drugs produced in Afghanistan are being routed via Pakistan or Nepal into India and the smuggled into Europe, US and other parts of the world," he added. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin