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Setting up of regional intelligence centre for drug busting operations postponed
An official event to mark the signing of an agreement to establish the South Asian Regional Intelligence and Coordination Centre on Transnational Organized Crime (SARICC-TOC) has been postponed indefinitely.
The event was to be held on Tuesday with the President signing the agreement as the Minister of Defence
The proposed centre, facilitated by the United Nations, was to be set up in Sri Lanka to enhance intelligence sharing between regional countries to prevent and mitigate organised criminal activities, especially drug smuggling.
The SARICC centre will partner with law enforcement and intelligence agencies from India, Nepal, Maldives, Bangladesh and Bhutan.
The move to set up the centre had been approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Attorney General’s Department and had received cabinet approval in September 2018.
However, a last minute decision by a presidential adviser has seen the project being postponed. The postponement was due to objection regarding two clauses in the agreement, which will be changed, a senior officer at the Presidential Task Force on Drug Prevention told the Sunday Times, on condition of anonymity.
Sri Lanka’s counter narcotics drive is heavily dependent on domestic and international intelligence and information support.
As such, an intelligence fusion centre such as SARICC- TOC could provide much needed regional and international scope to local investigators and law enforcement agencies.