HAITI: UN POLICE HELP LOCAL AUTHORITIES DESTROY ILLEGAL DRUGS

HAITI: UN POLICE HELP LOCAL AUTHORITIES DESTROY ILLEGAL DRUGS New York, Sep 2 2008 7:10PM The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti has helped the national police destroy more than 2,000 kilograms of drugs as part of its efforts to work with authorities in the impoverished Caribbean country in the fight against the illegal trafficking of narcotics.

UN Police (UNPOL) serving with the mission, known as <"http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/minustah/">MINUSTAH, and Haitian National Police escorted some 2,287 kilograms of drugs on Sunday to a centre in the town of Ganthier, where they were burned.

Members of a formed police unit (FPU) with MINUSTAH also helped safeguard the centre in Ganthier where the drugs were destroyed, according to a press release issued by the mission yesterday.

"The conduct of this operation… shows that the Haitian State is in the right direction and it is firmly decided to pursue the fight against drug trafficking," said Gérard Saunier, the head of UNPOL's narcotics bureau.

Haiti continues to be plagued by illicit drug trafficking, in part because of entrenched poverty but also because of its location between major production and consumption markets.
2008-09-02 00:00:00.000

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