TASHKENT -- Employees at Uzbekistan's Interior Ministry and General Prosecutor's Office in Tashkent participated in a one-week training seminar on post-blast investigations held by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Four FBI special agents and explosives trainers arrived in Tashkent in mid-April to deliver lectures and demonstrate their practical skills at the General Prosecutor's Office Training Academy April 16-20.
"A portion of the training involved a hands-on investigation with a practical exercise at the Ministry of Internal Affairs [MVD] range," said the US embassy in Uzbekistan in a statement April 26.
"Through international training, the FBI provides international law enforcement partners with skills in both basic and advanced investigative techniques and principles that promote co-operation and aid in the collection of evidence," an FBI representative said according to the US embassy.
"This post-blast training serves to strengthen co-operation among law enforcement personnel worldwide," added the FBI official.
Sharing tips, experience
The FBI specialists conducted training explosions of three motor vehicles and demonstrated how to collect physical evidence at a crime scene, as well as how to withdraw samples for expert evaluation.
The specialists talked about their experience and warned of potential errors in investigations.
"International law enforcement training and co-operation helps unify our investigations techniques, evidence collection, and prosecutions," said a representative of the US embassy's Regional Security Office in a statement. "Through sharing their expertise on real life investigations they conducted, and through these practical exercises, these FBI experts are helping to strengthen US–Uzbek security and law enforcement co-operation so that together we can thwart transnational criminals and terrorists."
Strengthening security co-operation
Uzbekistan's General Prosecutor's Office and the FBI signed a memorandum of understanding at FBI headquarters last December.
Later, on March 15, Uzbekistan's General Prosecutor's Office signed another memorandum of understanding on combating transnational financial crimes with the US Secret Service.
Security co-operation with the United States, as well as learning from experienced American specialists, will improve the professionalism of Uzbekistan's General Prosecutor's Office staff, say Uzbekistani analysts.
"Uzbekistan's General Prosecutor's Office is now a 'base of support' for the president of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev," Tashkent political scientist Umid Asatullayev told Caravanserai.
"Personnel for responsible positions are drawn from there," he said. "The General Prosecutor's Office is entrusted with a wide range of objectives, from supporting business to overseeing law enforcement agencies."