Border guards of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine to conduct joint special purpose operations
The border departments of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine will conduct special purpose operations to prevent transnational crimes, first deputy chairman of the Belarus Border Troops Committee Major-General Vadim Zaitsev told reporters in Gomel on November 23.
When commenting on the results of the joint work of the border departments of the two countries, Vadim Zaitsev noted the efficiency of the special purpose operation “Border 2007” on preventing illegal migration, smuggling of weapons, drugs and tangible assets which was conducted in the European region in August-September this year. In the course of the joint operation, during a short period of time, border guards detained more than a thousand of violators of the border legislation, seized the smuggled goods at the amount of more than $1.5 million, initiated 15 criminal cases. Moreover, the border guards of the three countries seized 30kg of drugs, cut a number of drug trafficking routes.
According to Vadim Zaitsev, the operations of this kind will be conducted by border guards of the three countries on a permanent basis.
On November 23, a two-day session of representatives of the border departments of Belarus, Russia, Ukraine and the Coordination Service of the CIS Council of the Heads of Border Services opened in the Belarusian town of Gomel. The information exchange, the basic trends of the cooperation in 2008 and the results of the joint special purpose operation Border 2007 will be high on the agenda of the session.
