KARACHI: A series of training workshops is being organized for officers of various government departments, ministries and allied bodies under the auspices of World Customs Organization (WCO) Global Shield Program, which aims to thwart the smuggling of precursor chemicals that could be used to build improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
Program Global Shield has three main goals that it seeks to accomplish including: to identify and interdict falsely declared explosive precursor chemicals; to initiate investigations of smuggled or illegally diverted IED materials; and to uncover the smuggling and procurement networks that foster illicit trade.
In this pretext, a 6-day training session concluded in Lahore last week, another held at Anti-Narcotics Force Academy, Islamabad, which ended on Friday.
SPS Preventive Karachi Sardar Abdul Qayyum gave the detailed briefings on 14 chemicals, which are importable for their use in several industries including urea and aceton, but these very chemicals can also be used in preparing IEDs.
The training workshop was attended by Deputy Collector Qasim Khokhar Appraisement Karachi, Deputy Collector Junaid Wazir and Assistant Collector Shahzad Ranjha MCC Peshawar, officers of ANF, officers of Police and Provincial Excise & Taxation Departments of Islamabad and KPK. WCO Pakistan representative Khalil Ahmed Yusufani conducted the training workshop.
Last year Collector Appraisement East Najeeb Abbasi assigned Deputy Collector Qasim Khokhar to prepare a sensitivity report pertaining to certain chemicals. The report was sent to FBR and subsequently FBR made arrangements for these workshops. The schedule regarding next series of these workshops could not be known.