At a meeting of interior and public security ministers in May, Meng Jianzhu, Chinese state councilor and minister of public security, said the cooperation in law enforcement among SCO members has maintained its momentum, with breakthroughs in countering terrorism and busting arms and drug trafficking.

Also in May, RIA quoted Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev as saying police from SCO member states "seized 240 kilograms of Afghan drugs in 2008" during 27 international operations to stop drug trafficking from Afghanistan. As a result, 41 drug mules were detained and 43 criminal cases were opened.

"The SCO considers the main threats to peace, security and stability to be international terrorism, separatism and extremism," Bolat Nurgaliev, secretary general of the organization, told RIA last week. "Ensuring the required level of cooperation on military, law enforcement and special services levels is a key element in our joint efforts to counter these threats," he said.

The leaders agreed at last year's summit in Dushanbe that they would carry out joint military exercises in 2010 in southern Kazakhstan.

(China Daily June 15, 2009)