Even in the best case, the Azerbaijani government is not very talkative. But his silence with stone walls after its neighbor Georgia has triumphantly confiscated heroin on the 
border between Georgia and Azerbaijan for a value of approximately $ 175 million has raised questions about the reasons for his reserve.
On July 11, the Georgian Border Police found a record 2.79 tonnes of liquid heroin inside 93 containers of 30 kg of laundry by hand carried by truck between Azerbaijan and Georgia. A video released by the Georgian Interior Ministry shows that the containers were carrying Georgian flags and the words “Clean Georgia”. The cargo truck was slightly fuzzy name “Go” or “G3” and marking “Internationale Spedition.”
In a statement on 25 July in a Georgian parliamentary committee, the Georgian Interior Minister Aleksandr Chikaidze said the cargo belonged to the Taliban in Afghanistan, has he alleged, had financed his expedition to Europe reported the news magazine Tabula. Two Georgian citizens were arrested in connection with the shipment.
Chikaidze had earlier stated that the goods had traveled from Afghanistan through Iran to Azerbaijan, and was headed to Turkey and to Europe. Citing an ongoing investigation, he declined to comment further.
The status of Azerbaijan and Georgia as part of a corridor of narcotics from Afghanistan and Iran to Europe was established Both countries cooperate with the United Nations and the Drug Enforcement Administration United States (DEA) to take action against international trafficking networks.
During the first nine months of 2012, the latest year for which information is available, Azerbaijan has confiscated a total of more than 654 kg of drugs, according to the American State Department, citing data from the Azerbaijani government.
This record-which past earned praise from the State Department – calls Azerbaijanis to wonder how the heroine managed to pass the Azerbaijani border control and Georgia.
But the Azerbaijani officials do not speak.
In comments to EurasiaNet.org, the spokesman of the service control borders of Azerbaijan Elhan Nagiyev said his agency had “no information” on the liquid heroin seizure at the border between Azerbaijan and Georgia. “The Georgian law enforcement bodies do not catch us” to help for this mission, he added.
The Spokesman of the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of National Security also refused to comment.
However, an expert on local drug believes that the Azerbaijani government to cooperate with the Georgian authorities on this drug bust.
“These operations are under preparation for months and involve a network of secret agents,” said Mazahir Efendiyev, national coordinator of Azerbaijan for the Drug Enforcement Program in the South Caucasus of the United Nations.
Citing unnamed government sources, the pro-opposition newspaper Yeni Musavat alleged that the Georgian Interior Minister Chikaidze discussed details of the operation with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, the Interior Minister Ramil Usubov and Chief border control Elchin Guliyev during an official visit from 13 to 16 May in Baku.
At the time, Azerbaijani media reported that Chikaidze had discussed “border issues.”
If the Yeni Musavat newspaper report is correct, some observers wonder why Baku does not recognize his public success with Georgia.
The 2014 Report of the International Narcotics Control Strategy of the State Department of the United States estimates that “up to 11 tons of narcotics”, largely from neighboring Iran, traveling through Azerbaijan every year. Turkey tightens border controls, Azerbaijan could become a “transit country increasingly favored for drugs’ has set the report.
The new drug liquid heroin seized by Azerbaijan and Georgia would serve to reinforce the message that Baku is taking this threat seriously.
But Efendiyev says that maybe Baku decided to stay quiet to let Georgia, “a friendly country”, earning the spotlight and improve its own domestic political prestige. The announcement of Tbilisi on heroin seizure took place two days before the local elections in Georgia, a vote that the Georgian Dream coalition government won.
Ex-intelligence officer against Arastun Orujlu, director of the Center pro-East-West opposition research, sees another possible reason for the silence of Baku.
“The service control or customs border of Azerbaijan are not doing their job properly or. . . these owners [these drugs] have strong friends in these organs “assumed Orujlu.
The National Council of Democratic Forces, a unit of the largest opposition parties of Azerbaijan, echoed that claim, condemning the government for failing to say anything about the seizure of heroin, but to make announcements “very strong” on the arrest of “civil society activists on false possessions of drugs.”
The government has not responded. Efendiyev has rejected any discussion on the links between drug traffickers and Azerbaijani officials, noting that the country has confiscated “over 10 tons” of drugs since 2007.
Yet despite this vigilance, has he added, “of course, the regional drug lords have their presence in the country.”
The American Embassy in Baku did not respond to requests for comment on a possible role by the American DEA in detecting sending liquid heroin.
The State Department wrote in its report “International Narcotics Control Strategy” that the DEA, who trained the employees of the Azerbaijani State anti-narcotics work, “contributed to that Azerbaijan continues Organizations international drug trafficking in 2013. “
He noted that Baku has provided “extraordinary cooperation” in the fight against drug trafficking, and said he expects “that this support will continue.”
Editor’s Note:
Shahin Abbasov is a freelance journalist based in Baku.
Eurasianet