In the context of ongoing joint exercises to combat drug trafficking in southern Moldova, the Moldovan Border Police (MDBP) and the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM) were able to report progress this week following the discovery of a cannabis field close to the Moldova-Ukraine border.

A Joint EUBAM-MDBP Working Group created specifically to monitor illicit cannabis cultivation in areas close to the “green” border managed to locate the plantation of ‘hemp’ that was concealed among other crops on half a hectare of land.

At this stage it is estimated that at full maturity the seized plants would have amounted to 115,000 cannabis plants being sold illegally.

Moldovan authorities have already opened a criminal case in connection with the seizure.

EUBAM provides continual support to law-enforcement agencies in both Moldova and Ukraine in order to counteract cross-border crime such drug trafficking. It achieves this through various training initiatives, joint border control operations, investigation support, facilitation of cross-border and international cooperation, and task forces that target particular types of crime.