NCIS Working with Partner Navies to Disrupt International Trafficking Networks in Middle East
August 20, 2018

Transnational criminal organizations for decades have posed a mounting threat to national security by using the sea to traffic illicit narcotics, weapons, and other contraband into the United States. The White House, the Attorney General's office, and the Department of Defense have all taken aim at cutting off the international and domestic flow of illicit narcotics that support terrorism and ravage communities across the United States.

According to the United Nations, nearly 80 percent of the world's heroin is exported from Afghanistan, a large majority of which is transported to the coast of Pakistan and then loaded onto maritime vessels destined for East African countries and eventually the United States.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service Transnational Crimes Unit, or TCU, which is based at the NCIS Middle East Field Office in Bahrain, is helping the counternarcotics fight in the waters of the Middle East by deploying Special Agents aboard multinational Combined Task Force 150 warships during maritime security operations in the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.

The TCU contributes significantly to the National Defense Strategy because these interdictions deny funding for terrorism, said NCIS Director Andrew Traver. They also strengthen military readiness by keeping illicit narcotics from reaching service members and their families throughout Europe, Africa, and the United States, he added.

TCU Special Agents participated in the seizure of nearly 10,000 kilograms of heroin and 30,000 kilograms of hashish during operations over the past five years with the United States, France, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. These operations have also resulted in the seizure of over 2,000 weapons. As TCU program efforts have expanded and evolved over that period, seizure totals have also grown significantly—from 755 kilograms of heroin and 5,588 kilograms of hashish seized in 2014 to 2,514 and 13,430 kilograms seized in 2018.

In addition to briefing commanding officers and boarding teams on topics such as tactical questioning and search techniques, the agents supervise interdictions to ensure evidence is collected properly for successful prosecution.

The TCU attributes most of these successes to actionable intelligence provided by the Regional Narcotics Interagency Fusion Cell, led by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Naval Central Command in Bahrain. An NCIS TCU Special Agent is assigned to the RNIFC, which collects intelligence from law enforcement, intelligence, and military organizations from numerous countries including the United Kingdom, the Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and France, then disseminates that intelligence to CTF-150 and other partner agencies.

"Doing the actual seizures has value because it denies that contraband from reaching consumers in whatever market it's destined for, but just doing that we're not solving the problem—we're just slowing it down," said Traver. "By interviewing crew members we can gain really critical intelligence that helps law enforcement detect and eventually disrupt the transnational criminal organizations that are perpetuating these trafficking schemes."

Since its 2009 formation, the TCU has established a reputation in the Middle East and East Africa regions as the premier maritime law enforcement subject matter experts. At the request of CTF-150 and Combined Maritime Forces, TCU agents provide briefings to command staff of new warships assigned to CTF-150. Agents also regularly provide pre-mission briefs to other U.S. and Coalition Navy entities.

To help ensure that smugglers who use the sea to transport illegal products are successfully prosecuted, TCU Special Agents conduct subject matter expert exchanges with military and law enforcement partners in the region, including those belonging to the United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Tanzania, Seychelles and South Africa.

"From 2009 until 2015 or so, we pretty much focused on collecting intelligence, collecting information on the networks. Now in the last couple years, we've really taken the focus more towards prosecuting these individuals," said former TCU Division Chief Curtis Evans. "What we're trying to do now is work with the United States Attorney's Office or work with other countries in the region to prosecute them. We work hand-in-hand with countries throughout the entire process to the point where they are brought to court for trial."

The Middle East Field Office also maintains a warehouse it shares with the U.S. Coast Guard that features a traditional sailing vessel used often in the Indian Ocean that NCIS Special Agents and partners can use to simulate maritime security operations for training purposes.

"It's critically important that we work with our foreign partners," said Traver. "Without their support, without their partnership, it would be virtually impossible for us to have the success that we've been able to attain over the last several years… It's a tremendous benefit not only to the United States and NCIS but also our foreign partners."

To learn more about the TCU mission, watch here.