Indo-Pacific countries are joining a training initiative to fight organized crime in the Indian Ocean, working to bolster maritime security capabilities with an eye on both smugglers and China’s growing assertiveness in the waters.
During a recent drill, Sri Lankan military personnel boarded a smuggling ship near Trincomalee, which is home to a naval base. They used X-ray and other equipment to quickly find drugs hidden in the bottom of the ship and subdued the crew in about five minutes.
This was one of many drills conducted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime at the Sri Lankan port city to strengthen the international response to organized crime. Coast guards from 17 countries, including Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and the Pacific islands, are taking part in the initiative this year.
Indian Ocean sea lanes have become major smuggling routes for drugs produced in Central Asia, including in Afghanistan, and Southeast Asia, including in Myanmar.
But many Indian Ocean countries have limited capabilities to fight maritime crime. Nine attacks or attempted attacks by pirates have been reported off the coast of Somalia and in the Arabian Sea this year.
Sri Lankan military personnel subdue the crew of a smuggling ship as part of a crime-fighting drill near Trincomalee. (Photo by Takayuki Tanaka)
“Maritime crime, such as illegal fishing and drug smuggling, is serious in many parts of the Indian Ocean and Asia,” said Alan Cole, chief of UNODC’s Border Management Branch. “Increasing maritime security capabilities and preventing the problem from coming up onshore is one of the most effective ways to combat maritime crime.”
More Asia-Pacific countries are participating in the drills, driven in part by China’s maritime expansion as well.
Japan has been a key financial contributor to this initiative, providing funding every year since 2022. Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam are joining the drills for the third straight year this year. All of these countries have faced provocations from Chinese coast guard and fishing vessels in waters where they have competing claims with Beijing, and have been urging cooperation from the U.S. and the rest of the world to combat the issue.
That UNODC is a U.N. agency makes the drills more accessible to countries that are wary of taking a side in the growing U.S.-China rivalry.
India, which is pursuing a policy of nonalignment, joined the initiative this year.
Japan plans to ramp up support for the drills through UNODC as part of its push with the U.S. and other partners for a free and open Indo-Pacific. It began backing drills in Kenya and South Africa this year.
“Working with U.N. agencies to strengthen the rule of law at sea in the Global South will become more important for Japan’s national interests,” said Nobuyuki Kikuchi, minister-counselor of the Permanent Mission of Japan to the International Organizations in Vienna.
