From 5 to 9 October 2026, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) organized a specialized five-day regional training course on the "Detection of Weapons, Ammunition and Explosives" at the National Canine Centre of the Customs Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan in Tashkent. The course brought together 15 border security and customs officers from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and host country Uzbekistan.
Practical training session
The week-long intensive program focused on building practical operational capability in detecting illicit firearms, conventional ammunition, and explosive compounds, while strengthening instructional capacity and standardized assessment benchmarks across Central Asian K9 units. Hands-on field exercises covered scent dynamics, contamination prevention, airflow analysis, and systematic searches across diverse scenarios-including vehicles and crowd screening. Additionally, dedicated modules emphasized working dog welfare, stress recognition, and health management to ensure peak operational readiness.
Beyond operational canine techniques, participants focused on advancing inter-agency cooperation and cross-border information sharing. Through joint exercises and technical exchanges, delegates aligned standard operating procedures (SOPs) to strengthen regional intelligence sharing and streamline border interception efforts against illicit trafficking networks.
"We are convinced that the professional contacts established during this seminar should be further developed. It is important to continue exchanging experience, conduct joint training activities, improve training methods for service dogs and dog handlers, and develop cooperation between the relevant departments of the Central Asian states thus contributing to the security of Central Asia region," said colonel Farrukh Kakhkhorov, Director of the National Canine Centre of the Customs Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
Opening ceremony of the regional training course
As Ambassador Antti Karttunen, OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan, noted:
"At the OSCE, we support practical co-operation that helps border and customs services address shared security challenges. Through this training, we helped Uzbek instructors share knowledge gained in the United Kingdom with colleagues from all five Central Asian countries. In this way, the benefits of earlier training extend beyond one country to the wider region."
The course was delivered under the OSCE extrabudgetary project "Strengthening the resilience of Uzbekistan to address cross-border challenges emanating from Afghanistan", funded through the generous support of Germany, Sweden, the United States of America, Finland, and France.
