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Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Part of UK in Ukraine

30th November 2011

EU help for Ukrainian borders

Last year I wrote a blog about three big seizures of cocaine in Ukraine.  So I was interested when the EU Border Assistance Mission (EUBAM) held a seminar on counter-narcotics recently for Ukrainian and Moldovan law enforcement agencies.  The seminar took place in the EUBAM HQ in Odesa and involved 18 Ukrainian participants from the State Service on Drugs control, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the State Border Guard Service, the Security Service, the State Customs Service, the Odesa Law Academy and the Prosecutor’s Office.

EUBAM invited two experts from the UK Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) to support the course.  The hands-on experience of the SOCA experts in real-time operations against drug trafficking provoked immense interest. The seminar also featured presentations from Austrian, Ukrainian and Moldovan law enforcement officers.

Other subjects included collaborative working and national and international legislation.  The seminar also explored specific techniques involved in “controlled delivery”, a tool used by law enforcement agencies to detect organised crime.

The UK and EU remain keen to help improve the effectiveness of Ukraine’s border control and to co-operate in the fight against drug trafficking.  It would be good to see some further big drug busts in the months ahead.
Participants of EUBAM seminar on counter-narcotics

About Leigh Turner

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of…

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of the UN and other organisations; stories here will reflect that.

About me: I arrived in Vienna in August 2016 for my second posting in this wonderful city, having first served here in the mid-1980s. My previous job was as HM Consul-General and Director-General for Trade and Investment for Turkey, Central Asia and South Caucasus based in Istanbul.

Further back: I grew up in Nigeria, Exeter, Lesotho, Swaziland and Manchester before attending Cambridge University 1976-79. I worked in several government departments before joining the Foreign Office in 1983.

Keen to go to Africa and South America, I’ve had postings in Vienna (twice), Moscow, Bonn, Berlin, Kyiv and Istanbul, plus jobs in London ranging from the EU Budget to the British Overseas Territories.

2002-6 I was lucky enough to spend four years in Berlin running the house, looking after the children (born 1992 and 1994) and doing some writing and journalism.

To return to Vienna as ambassador is a privilege and a pleasure. I hope this blog reflects that.

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drug trafficking EUBAM general odesa SOCA

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