By Anush Dashtents
US Ambassador to Armenia Michael Lemmon and Armenian Prosecutor-General Aram Tamazian
The US government on Monday pledged to help Armenia fight drug trafficking and addiction with a $1.5 million package of technical assistance to its law-enforcement agencies. Under a joint plan of actions signed by US Ambassador to Armenia Michael Lemmon and Armenian Prosecutor-General Aram Tamazian, the funds will be used for supplies of American equipment and training of local anti-drug officials.
Tamazian said the aid will allow Armenian law-enforcement agencies to trace and detect the flow of narcotics into the country more effectively. He said drug control is a major priority of his agency despite the relatively low scale of narcotics addiction in Armenia.
Figures from the prosecutor’s office showed 483 officially registered drug-related crimes last year. But according to Tamazian, their real number is higher. He said: “We are worried about drug-related crimes. They seemed to be hidden [by the authorities] in the past, and you wouldn’t think that the problem exists in Armenia. Now we don’t want to hide anything and are providing the real picture.”
US Ambassador to Armenia Michael Lemmon and Armenian Prosecutor-General Aram Tamazian
The US government on Monday pledged to help Armenia fight drug trafficking and addiction with a $1.5 million package of technical assistance to its law-enforcement agencies. Under a joint plan of actions signed by US Ambassador to Armenia Michael Lemmon and Armenian Prosecutor-General Aram Tamazian, the funds will be used for supplies of American equipment and training of local anti-drug officials.
Tamazian said the aid will allow Armenian law-enforcement agencies to trace and detect the flow of narcotics into the country more effectively. He said drug control is a major priority of his agency despite the relatively low scale of narcotics addiction in Armenia.
Figures from the prosecutor’s office showed 483 officially registered drug-related crimes last year. But according to Tamazian, their real number is higher. He said: “We are worried about drug-related crimes. They seemed to be hidden [by the authorities] in the past, and you wouldn’t think that the problem exists in Armenia. Now we don’t want to hide anything and are providing the real picture.”