Combating Illicit Trafficking of SALW, Ammunition and Explosives in focus of OSCE training in Turkmenistan

An OSCE-organized national training course on Combatting Illicit Trafficking of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW), Conventional Ammunition (CA) and Explosives took place from 13 to 16 October 2026 in Ashgabat. 

The OSCE Centre in Ashgabat organized the course to strengthen the existing institutional capacities of border, customs, defence and other law enforcement bodies in the area of combating illicit trafficking of SALW, CA and Explosives. 

The training course presented the Frontex Handbook on Firearms for Border Guards and Customs translated into Turkmen language. It also shared European and national good practices and experiences in the fight against illicit trafficking of SALW, ammunition and explosives at the borders. In addition, this course offered comprehensive training in SALW/CA identification, documentation, post-seizure record-keeping and tracing, focusing on the target groups. 

“The OSCE brings together 57 participating States in a shared commitment to comprehensive security,” said Edgar Ganbarov, Political Officer of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat, in his address at the opening of the training course: “An important part of this work is addressing the risks associated with illicit arms trafficking and strengthening co-operation in the control of small arms, light weapons, and conventional ammunition.”

“Effective action against illicit arms trafficking depends not only on individual expertise but also on close co-operation among border, customs, and law enforcement authorities, including better information-sharing and co-ordinated risk analysis, he added.

The course was delivered by national experts from the border, customs, defence, police and other law enforcement bodies. Applying concrete example-based exercises, the experts involved trainees in practical exercises that were carefully tailored to control measures at the border crossing points and enhance co-operation between various services at the borders, in particular among border guards, customs, defence and police officers.

The training course was organized within the framework of the Centre’s extrabudgetary project “Enhancing Border Security and Management capacities in Turkmenistan” and financially supported by the Government of Germany. The training efforts reflect the OSCE’s commitment to significantly strengthening the operational capacities of Turkmenistan’s border, customs, defence, police and other law enforcement bodies’ officials amongst others in preventing the smuggling of illicit weapons and related materials across borders.