ISF JOIN FORCES WITH UN TO BATTLE DRUG TRAFFICKING

Officers from the Customs Department and the Internal Security Forces began
a 14-day training program on Tuesday to learn the latest techniques for
combating the traffic and abuse of narcotics.

The course is sponsored jointly by the United Nations' Drug Control Program
and the ISF. Two UN-assigned British officers have been flown in to
supervise the workshop, in which 20 Lebanese officers are taking part. The
UN Drug Control Program has also granted the ISF four new four-wheel drive
vehicles for drug-enforcement-related missions at a price tag of $75,000.

The ISF's director-general, Major General Abdel-Karim Ibrahim, described
drug trafficking and abuse as dangerous problems that should be wiped out
during his speech to open the training workshop. "Drugs are not only a
violation or a crime but are a very dangerous phenomenon that destroys
people's lives," Ibrahim said.

He said that Lebanon had succeeded in eradicating drug cultivation and has
started a new plan for growing alternative crops by targeting the
Bekaa-Hermel area. The United Nations has given farmers seeds for crops to
replace drugs like hashish as part of its plan to eradicate the region's
narcotics trade.

UN representative Mehdi Ali praised the efforts deployed by the ISF and
other Lebanese authorities in fighting drug cultivation and trafficking.
"This workshop is only a small part of our bigger plan to fight drugs with
the Lebanese government," Ali said. He said that his organization was in
negotiations with Lebanese officials to implement a new plan offering
farmers alternative crops.

The UN Drug Control Program's 1999 field report revealed that while
countries in the region paid much lip service to working with the program,
their drug-control policies have remained unchanged. In Lebanon, the
government has redirected its development policies from an urban focus
toward developing rural areas, the UN report asserted. As a result, the UN
activities in the Bekaa can now be expected to be complemented by government
contributions to help farmers and train officers, as it is doing over the
next two weeks.

But the report found that recently, the quantities of cocaine seized in
Lebanon have decreased while the number of cases involving cocaine use have
increased. Lebanese authorities see these as indications of a fragmented
market that has not developed into trafficking operations. The UN suggested
that there was a small number of frequent cocaine abusers and a group of
occasional users.