THE ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL JUDICIAL COOPERATION IN THE
EGYPTIAN AUTHORITIESʼ INVESTIGATIONS OF ILLICIT DRUG
TRAFFICKING
Mohamed Habib＊

I. INTRODUCTION
Drug trafficking is a global illicit trade involving the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale ofsubstances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. The national authorities are continuously monitoring
and researching global illicit drug markets in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of theirdynamics, but practice shows that combating such phenomena requires cooperation and coordination
between the various authorities at different levels. The investigation of illicit drug trafficking is a key part ofthis research, as it seeks the importance of cooperation between the domestic authorities combating the illicit
drug trafficking on the one hand and the cooperation on the international level between the law enforcement
agencies on the other. This paper will give an overview on the drug situation in Egypt, the legal framework of
combating the illicit drug trafficking and the national anti-drug institutions. Then the paper will discuss theimportance of cooperation in general and judicial cooperation in particular on both the national andinternational levels.

II. GENERAL DRUG SITUATION IN EGYPT
Egypt is not a significant producer or consumer of narcotics or precursor chemicals, despite the fact that
opium poppy and cannabis plants are grown in Egypt. The substances that are most commonly abused arecannabis, which is known in Egypt as bango (cannabis herb), hashish (cannabis) and legitimate
pharmaceuticals1. Egyptʼs long and mostly uninhabited borders, combined with the high level of shipping
passing through the Suez Canal Zone, have made Egypt prone to the transshipment of Asian heroin. Egypt is
considered a transit point for Southwest Asian and Southeast Asian heroin and opium moving to Europe,
Africa, and the US. It is also considered as a transit stop for Nigerian couriers2. Other types of narcotics
periodically pass through Cairo International Airport. Transshipment has diminished considerably in recent
years due to the elevation of security in Egypt and the region as a whole.
A 2003 study conducted by the Government of Egypt showed that the narcotics problem costs the
Egyptian economy approximately $800 million annually, including the amount spent on illegal drugs and what
the government spends to combat the problem. The most commonly seized drug in the country is cannabis,in a variety of forms. In the first three quarters of 2011, more than 52,000 kg of cannabis was seized by antidrug authorities in Egypt. In addition to this, close to 70 acres of illicit cannabis plantations were destroyed3.
Synthetic designer drugs are also rife in Egypt, and during the first three quarters of 2011 more than 45
million psychotropic pills were seized. As a large-scale producer of cold medicines, Egypt is a major importerof ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, important precursor chemicals for the production of the drug
methamphetamine. It is feared that these chemicals may be being diverted to illicit drug laboratories.
Research by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime suggests that approximately 0.44% of 15-64 year
olds in the country use opiate drugs, while 0.5% take amphetamines. 6.2% of 15-64-year-old Egyptians are
estimated to use cannabis. 50. 1% of those seeking treatment for drug abuse are estimated to do so forcannabis use. 42.7% do so for opiate/opioid drug addiction4.
Chief Prosecutor, Member of the Technical Office of the Court of Cassation, Cairo, Egypt.
https://www.unodc.org/pdf/egypt/egypt_country_profile.pdf., accessed on March 21st, 2018.
2
United States Department of State, Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, International Narcotics
Control Strategy Report, Volume I, Drug and Chemical Control, March 2010, Egypt Profile, p. 262.
3
Dr. Dalal ABD EL WAHAB, General Secretary of Mental Health, DRUG SITUATION AND POLICY, 2014, https://rm.coe.
int/drug-situation-and-policy-by-dr-dalal-abd-el-wahab-general-secretary-o/168075f0e5.
＊
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III. THE LEGAL FRAMWORK OF ILLICIT DRUG TRAFFICKING IN EGYPT
A. On the International Level
Egypt is party to the three major international drug control treaties: the Single Convention on Narcotic
Drugs of 1961 (as amended in 1972), the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971, and the United
Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988.5
Also, it ratified the crime-related treaties, such as the United Nations Convention against Corruption(UNCAC, Feb. 2005) and the United Nations Convention against Trans-National Organized Crime (UNTOC)
and two of its protocols: A- Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, B- Protocol
against Smuggling of Migrants. (March 2004).
The abovementioned treaties are considered to be legal instruments for the Egyptian authorities as they
are legally binding documents according to the Egyptian constitution6. In addition, the Egyptian authorities
use those treaties as legal bases for international judicial cooperation between the Egyptian judicial
authorities and the foreign judicial authorities.
B. On the National Level
1. Law No. 182 / 1960 for Combating Narcotic Substances, Organizing its Usage and Selling Them
The law was issued on June 6, 1960 and published in the Egyptian Official Gazette on June 13, 1960. It
consists of 56 articles divided into 9 chapters, and 6 tables are attached thereto. Chapter One is named
narcotic substances and contains the general rule which prohibits anyone from importing, exporting,producing, owning, possessing, or buying or selling narcotic substances or exchanging them or distributing
them without a license. Chapter Two provides regulations for the import, export and transport of narcotic
substances. Chapter Three deals with drug trafficking and the necessary regulations and permissions needed
to legitimate trafficking. Chapter Four deals with the trade of narcotic substances through pharmacies andregulates the work of the pharmacists. Chapter Five prohibits the production, extraction, separation or
manufacture of any substance of the narcotic substances. Chapter Six deals with the materials that are
subject to certain restrictions as narcotic substances. Chapter Seven deals with the plants that are prohibited
to be cultivated. Chapter Eight and Chapter Nine deal with the general rules and penalties of the crimes
stipulated in the law.
2. Rules Stipulated in the Law(i) The law adopted sanctions depending on the seriousness of the offender and the gravity of the crime tothe society, Article 33 stipulates the penalty of capital punishment for those who export or import without alicense the narcotic substances provided for in Article 3, as well as those who produced, mined, separated or
manufactured drug substances for the purpose of trafficking.
Article 34 adopted the penalty of capital punishment or life imprisonment for the category of less serious
offenders than those referred to in the preceding article, a group of drug traffickers and plant cultivators
which are mentioned in the table (No. 5) and traffickers, as well as persons who had licenses for the possessionof drugs to use for certain purposes where certain acted in any way other than those purposes, and offenders
who conducted or prepared a place for drug abuse. Finally, Article 35 deals with the case of providing
narcotic substances for abuse without charge or facilitating drug abuse, which is punished with a sentence oflife imprisonment.
(ii) Article 37 stipulates slightly less harsh penalties in order to deal with criminals for the possession of
narcotic substances for personal use and made the penalty of imprisonment and a fine of ten thousand EGP to
Fifty thousand EGP. However, the second paragraph of Article 37 allowed the courts in the case of a
http://www.ginad.org/en/world/countries/65/egypt, accessed March 21, 2018.
Egypt ratified Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961, as amended by the Protocol amending the Single Convention on
Narcotic Drugs on Jan 14th, 1974. Also, ratified the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971 on June 14th, 1972. Finallyratified the United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs on March 15th, 1991. Check http://www.unodc.
org/unodc/en/treaties/index.html) accessed march 21, 20186
Article 151 of the Egyptian Constitution (www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Egypt_2014.pdf?lang = ar) accessed March
21, 2018.
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convicted addict to refer him or her to a specialized facility for treatment rather than imprisonment. This
compulsory admission starts from 6 months and does not exceed 3 years, during which monitoring andevaluation of treatment is to be performed by a multidisciplinary committee. However, such article is inactive
for unknown reasons.7(iii) The law stipulated in Article 38 the punishment of the person who has been in the status of possessionof narcotic substances with no intention of trafficking or the handling for personal use so the law covers all
the practical cases as no holder of narcotic substances will go unpunished.
(iv) The law criminalizes, in article 33(d), criminal organized groups. The law reads as follows:
Anyone even if he/she is abroad, who forms a gang or manages it or interferes in its management or
its organization or joins it or participates in it and its purpose was trafficking in narcotic substances orsubmitting it for abuse or committing any of the crimes set forth in this article inside the country.
The abovementioned crime considers an application to the criminal organized group within theprospective of the Egyptian legislation for combating narcotic substances. However, this crime has somedifficulty in practice as the definition of gang is not clarified in the article or the number of persons that isneeded to label them as a gang. In addition, the law does not mention any conditions related to the hierarchyof the persons who participated in the gang.
Those gaps in the article gave judicial precedents wide authority to characterize the merits of the casesand develop the legal principles that govern such criminalization of gangs. It is worth mentioning, thecriminal organized group has been defined in the Egyptian legal system, but not in the context of the Law on
Combating Human Trafficking and the Law on Combating Smuggling of Migrants8.
3. Pharmacy Law No. 127/1955
The law was issued on March 10, 1955. It consists of 96 articles divided into 8 chapters. The law mainly
deals with the regulations and conditions needed to work as a pharmacist or open a pharmacy. However, thelaw stipulated detailed rules regarding the importing and manufacturing of drugs and other substances that
may be used for medical purposes, but it lays within the category of narcotic substances.
4. The Anti-Money Laundering Law Issued by Law No. (80) for 2002 as Amended.
The Anti-Money laundering law was promulgated by law No. 80 for 2002; the Law was amended threetimes; by virtue of Law No. 78 for the year 2003, then by virtue of Law No. 181 for the year 2008 and by virtueof Law No. 36 for the year 2014.
It is worth mentioning that the old approach of the Egyptian legislator in that law was to determine andlist the predicate offences which may generate proceeds used in money laundering activities. The modern
approach of the Egyptian legislator did not adopt the old trend and specifies the predicate offences but
contains a provision that defines the predicate offences generally as follows9: “Every act that constitutes afelony or misdemeanor under Egyptian law, whether the crimes are committed within the Egyptian
territories or abroad, provided that such crimes are penalized by both Egyptian and foreign laws”.
To sum up, the Anti-Money Laundering Law allows the initiation of money laundering investigations incases where the illicit drug trafficking crime generated proceeds to be laundered.

IV. NATIONAL ANTI-DRUG INSTITUTIONSThere are many institutions that deal with illicit drug trafficking domestically. Some of the institutions
provide medical care to others for the prevention and raising the awareness, in addition to the law
Ibid, 3; Usually the courts are reluctant to apply such article due to security issues and less trust in the abilities of thespecialized facilities to monitor the convicted person.
8
Article 1 of The Law No. 82 of 2016 on Combating Illegal Migration & Smuggling of Migrants, article 1 of The Law No. 64 of2010 on combating Human Trafficking.
9
Article 1(c) of law no 80/ 2002, http://www.mlcu.org.eg/AML%20law%20En.pdf, accessed march 21, 2018.
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enforcement agencies (police, prosecution, customs, border control and immigration authorities), which play
an important role in tracing the crime and the perpetrators to bring them to justice for deterrence. This
paper will shed light upon three main national institutions that play an essential role in combating the crimefrom two different perspectives.
A. Anti-Narcotics General Administration (ANGA)The Anti-Narcotics General Administration (ANGA) is Egyptʼs main agency responsible for overseeing
anti-drug operations in the country. It is a specialized department in the Ministry of Interior (Police). To thisend it undertakes a range of activities, including intercepting drug smuggling operations, seizing illicit drug
manufacturing facilities and equipment, and confiscating drug proceeds. ANGA was first established in 1929,
making it one of the oldest anti-drug organizations in the Arab world. It works with national law enforcement
agencies and with foreign anti-narcotics agencies to achieve the aims of preventing the supply of illicit
substances. In the past it has cooperated successfully on numerous occasions with the Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) of the US, resulting in the seizure of large amounts of narcotics and drug-related
proceeds. Though Egypt is not a major producing country, limited growth of cannabis and opium takes placein the Sinai region, and ANGA carries out regular crop eradication activities. The agency also carries out
drug awareness activities and is involved in a number of programmes to reduce the amount of drug abuse
that takes place10.
Based on the ANGA report for the year 2004, in the general framework of the Ministry of Interiorʼstackling of the narcotic drug cultivations in the Sinai Peninsula, ANGA prepared a comprehensive plan incooperation with the Central Security Forces and the Armed Forces, to fulfil the following objectives: (i)destroying illicit cultivations in rigid and remote areas; (ii) arresting cultivators and tools used for cultivation;(iii) attacking storage places of bango (cannabis herb) after collecting it; (iv) imposing tight control on alloutlets, and smuggling areas from the Sinai to other governorates11.
According to the US State Department 2005 report, late in 2004, a joint DEA-ANGA investigation
uncovered an MDMA laboratory located in a small apartment building in Alexandria, Egypt. ANGA raided
the laboratory, arresting four individuals and seizing chemicals, paste, and equipment. This was the first
known discovery of an MDMA laboratory in Egypt, and according to the DEA, the first in the Middle East,and may represent a new trend toward shifting artificial drug labs to the region due to the regionʼs relatively
lax regulation of commercial chemical products. With the passage of the first anti-money-laundering law in
2002, which criminalized the laundering of proceeds derived from trafficking in narcotics and numerous othercrimes, seizures of currency in drug related cases has amounted to over 3,000,000 Egyptian Pounds ($485,000)12.
B. The Public Prosecution
In Egypt, the Public Prosecution is considered one of the most important authorities based on its role in
the effective enforcement of the rule of law and its concern with the protection of human rights. This isreflected in the review of its functions, characteristics and independence.
The Judicial Authority Law (JAL)13 defines the Public Prosecution as the legal representative of thecommunity in initiating criminal proceedings and is presided over by the Prosecutor General followed by theAssistant Prosecutor General, Senior Attorney General, Attorney General, Chief Prosecutors, Public
Prosecutor, and assistants.
The Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt affirms the independence of the Public Prosecution and isan integral part of the judiciary. Article 189 of the Constitution states that:“The Public Prosecution is an integral part of the judiciary, which undertakes investigation and theinitiation and prosecution of criminal proceedings except for what is excluded by law.”https://www.state.gov/j/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2015/vol1/238967.htm, accessed on March 21, 2018.
Ibid 3.
12
United States Department of State, Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, International Narcotics
Control Strategy Report, Volume I, Drug and Chemical Control, March 2007, Egypt report, p. 529.
13
The Judicial Authority Law no. 46 for the year 1972, issued and published on 5 October 1972.
10
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Article 67 of the JAL states that the members of the Public Prosecution cannot be dismissed like otherjudges. Article 26 of the same law states that prosecutors are subordinate to their superiors in order of rank
and then to the Attorney General.
The Public Prosecution is responsible for investigating crimes as part of the judicial authority in Egypt, as
it enjoys impartiality and independence. It also combines the powers of investigation and indictment. Under
the investigation authority, it controls all interrogation procedures from questioning the accused, crossexamining witnesses and collecting evidence that enables it to show the truth in the case, either to acquit thedefendant or to convict him.
The Public Prosecution shall prepare the decision of referral and bring the criminal case before thecompetent criminal court as a party representing the society vis-à-vis the accused. The role of the Public
Prosecution shall be governed at the trial stage by the principle of confrontation between the litigants. The
jurisdiction of the Public Prosecution extends to all parts of the Egyptian territory, including all crimes
committed therein, as well as crimes committed by Egyptians outside the Egyptian territory in accordancewith article 3 of the Egyptian Penal Code.
1. The Public Prosecutionʼs role in International Judicial Cooperation
 Egypt has concluded several treaties on the exchange of legal assistance and extradition with many
countries all over the world. These treaties are all aimed at achieving justice, arresting theperpetrators and preventing them from escaping justice.
 The Public Prosecution benefits from those mutual legal assistance and extradition treaties as it
performs the duties and responsibilities entrusted to it by virtue of those treaties.
 It submits requests to extradite fugitives to other countries for prosecution for crimes committed in
Egypt, and in turn it responds to requests for extradition submitted to them by other countries.
 In the absence of bilateral or multilateral treaties, the Public Prosecution responds to requests forjudicial and legal assistance and extradition on the basis of the principle of reciprocity, as long as
they do not conflict with Egyptʼs sovereignty, national security, public order or legal system.
2. The International Cooperation Office of the Prosecutor General Office
On 19 October 1999, the Prosecutor General issued Decree No. 1884 of 1999 on the establishment of the
Office of International Cooperation, the enforcement of judicial sentences and the welfare of prisoners. It is
mandated to examine and execute all requests of international judicial cooperation referred by the Central
Authority and to review the papers of the requests then to be reported to the Prosecutor General who has
the authority to give the final decision either to accept or refuse the assistance in light of the information
attached to the request. The requesting State may be asked to provide any additional information or
documents if it seems that the information and documents submitted are insufficient.
C. National Council for Combating and Treating Addiction (NCCTA)
The National Council for Combating and Treating Addiction (NCCTA) is a governmental body
responsible for the programme to reduce demand for illicit drugs in Egypt. It was first established in 1986,
and today its primary activities are training drug treatment and rehabilitation workers and mounting drugawareness campaigns.

V. DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATIONThe need for cooperation is essential to combat illicit drug trafficking. Cooperation between the relevant
institutions takes place domestically and on the international level.
A. Cooperation on the National Level
Practice has shown the crime of illicit drug trafficking has completely changed, in terms of theperpetrators of the crime and the means used to commit it. The recent cases show that the criminal acts doneby criminal organizations follow a regime and plan to conceal their activities and protect their business.
Further, to disrupt and dismantle criminal organizations, it is essential to identify, investigate, prosecute and
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punish high value targets, i.e. leaders of the organizations, and there is a need of multi-agency cooperationand coordination on the domestic level to combat the illicit drug trafficking. The information and evidence
obtained are very important for investigation and prosecution because they show how illicit drugs were
found and how the criminal behaved at that time, thus clarifying the situation of the possession anddemonstrating the illicit intention of the criminals.
Thus, clear strategy and MOUs between the authorities working in the field is essential and may improve
the quality of evidence in illicit drug trafficking cases. It is important that the relevant authorities exchange
views and share the barriers and good practices among them. This will lead to strong cases and everyone will
be updated on the new forms and techniques of the criminals and their plans of how they commit crimes.
B. Cooperation on the International Level
Cooperation on the international level can be between different institutions, either between Law
Enforcement Agencies (police to police), Judicial Authorities, and treatment or policy institutions.
This part of the paper will focus on international cooperation between the law enforcement agencies andthe judicial authorities. International judicial cooperation which happens between the national and foreignauthorities has played an essential role in the recent cases of illicit drug trafficking that involve criminalorganized groups where their criminal acts are committed in different territories. The role played byinternational judicial cooperation assists in solving the dilemma of the cases by gathering the evidence,
attaching testimony needed, capturing the illegal narcotic substances, tracing the proceeds of the crime andextraditing the fugitive criminal.
The means of international cooperation varies from one institution to another, as for the Egyptian
authorities ANGA and the Public Prosecution benefit to the maximum from the means of the international
cooperation available.
For the police-to-police cooperation, the means of cooperation vary in terms of sharing of intelligence
information, the criminal records of suspects, the new types of narcotic substances appearing in the society,and the flow of the illicit drug trafficking.
On the other hand, the most well-known means of international judicial cooperation are as follows: mutual
legal assistance requests, extradition requests, transfer of convicted persons, asset recovery requests andserving of judicial papers.
Below are some of the good practices of the national anti-drug authorities in the area of international
cooperation.
C. ANGAʼs Experiences in International Cooperation
ANGA has been both a regular and an active participant in the Arab Office for Narcotic Affairs which ispart of the Arab Interior Ministers Council (AMIC) of the League of Arab States. ANGA also regularly
attends Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) meetings.
On June 30, 2003, in cooperation between ANGA in Egypt and Libya, a seizure of cannabis weighing 1150
kg in the port of Masrata in Libya was seized before it was smuggled to Egypt. Also late in 2004, a joint (USDrug Enforcement Administration) DEA-ANGA investigation uncovered an MDMA laboratory located in asmall apartment building in Alexandria, Egypt. ANGA raided the laboratory, arresting four individuals andseizing chemicals, paste, and equipment. This was the first known discovery of an MDMA laboratory in
Egypt, and according to the DEA, the first in the Middle East14.
The activities of ANGA in cooperation with its international partners achieved success in combating illicit
drug trafficking. The practice shows the need for cooperation and coordination in the cases that involve
multi-lateral parties such as criminal organized groups or the crime took place in different territories as theindividual work will not result in successful cases.

14

Ibid 3.

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D. Public Prosecutionʼs Experiences in International Cooperation
As it has been mentioned above, the forms and mechanisms of international cooperation can be summed
up as follows: extradition, mutual legal assistance in criminal matters (MLA), transfer of prisoners, seizureand forfeiture of illicit proceeds of crimes, the recognition of foreign criminal judgements, the transfer ofcriminal proceedings, service of the judicial papers, and joint investigation teams.
Although Egypt does not have domestic law for international judicial cooperation, it is party to various
multilateral and bilateral conventions and treaties15 dealing with international judicial cooperation. The
prosecution office uses those treaties as legal basis for such cooperation. In many cases the prosecution officeuse the tools of international cooperation to fulfill the ongoing investigation that taking place in Egypt,
specifically the MLA requests to collect evidence as testimony or documents for ships and cargos captured
abroad and linked to the investigation in Egypt.
The following case study will demonstrate how the prosecution office can by the means of international
judicial cooperation build a strong case of Illicit drug trafficking.
1. Case Study
The Prosecution Office opened an investigation concerning Narcotic Material (Cannabis) brought into
Egypt by sea.
According to the police investigations conducted jointly by the police officers of the Anti-Narcotics
General Administration (ANGA), three persons (A), (B), (C) were involved. (A) and (B) constituted a criminalgang for bringing cannabis into Egypt from Morocco by sea on board a vessel owned by the accused / (C).
The vessel is known as “Adam” holding the number I.O.M. 08804775 and flying the flag of Comoros. The
defendants aimed to bring such shipment into Egypt with the help of the ship crew, who are of Syrian
nationality, to be unloaded in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea and delivered to several smallboats that would enter into Egypt at different times. The investigation showed that the “Adam” vessel wasshipped before the Moroccan coast having on board a shipment of cannabis, that exceed fifteen tons andapproximately weighted twenty tons, though the international waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
Therefore, the ANGAʼs officers communicated with the American anti-narcotic department in Cairo tonotify the findings of the investigation; accordingly, the vessel was seized on 17 April 2013 by the Italianauthorities and taken to one of the Italian ports on the island of Sicily. On 20 April 2013 the Egyptian Pubic
Prosecution issued a search warrants against the accused (A), accused (B) (son of the first), and accused (C).
The defendant (B) (son of the first accused), and defendant (C) were arrested on 20 April 2013; they werecaught while the first was handing the latter, an amount of money of one hundred thousand US dollars that
believed to be the expenses of the Syrian crew.
Questioning accused (B) (son of the first accused), he denied all charges brought against him stating that
he met A. B. under a request by his father A.S. and the seized amount of money was a down payment for thepurchase of a boat owned to A. B. known as “Noah”. Added that his father is out of the country in the current
period; Questioning A. B. he denied all charges brought against him stating that the seized amount of money
was the deposit for the purchase of the “Adam” vessel not “Noah”, arguing that Omar Ahmed ignored thedeal since it is with his father not him; he added that he knew about the seizure of Adam on 17 April, 2013
because of having narcotic material on board and it was taken to Marsala, Province of Trapani; where hedenied any relation to the seized narcotic saying that itʼs the responsibility of the vesselʼs Captain and its
crew.
Questioning officers of the ANGA, they gave statements in a manner similar to the finding of the reportmentioned above; and listing the names of the Syrian crew. Witnesses added that the crew members are partof the criminal gang that is constituted by the Egyptian defendants with a view to bring cannabis from
Morocco to Egypt; and its role was to bring the illegal narcotic material into Egypt while being fully aware of
On the bilateral level Egypt concluded many judicial cooperation treaties; Arab Countries such as: Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco,
Libya, Jordan, Lebanon, UAE and European countries: France, Greece, Malta, Cyprus, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Albania,
Romania, (Italy), Switzerland; and the USA.
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the nature of the shipment.
The international cooperation office of the Prosecutor General sent a mutual legal assistance request to
the Italian authorities to give its consent to take the necessary actions to furnish the findings of the ongoinginvestigations conducted by the Italian authorities concerning the seizure of “Adam” that was flying theComoros flag on 17 April 2013, which is kept in Marsala, Province of Trapani, Italy16:
Furnish us the testimonies of the Syrians crew members and matching their data with those set out
at the judicial request. Also to provide us with the nature of the accusations that have been filed
against them in addition to all the data concerning the ongoing investigations carried out by the
Italian authorities in this regard and copies of their passports;



Take the Syrian crewʼs testimonies, if not, concerning their relation with the Egyptian defendants,
and how they received the instructions from the boatʼs owner and to identify him. Also to confront
them, with the outcome of the investigations conducted by the Egyptian authorities, and to bequestioned about the capture incident, the navigation route and the port of destination as well as thereason of their presence in front of the Moroccan coast in case of denying, and how they obtained thenarcotic shipment;Furnish the technical reports regarding the examination of the seized narcotic drugs; while
identifying its precise volume, nature and weight;



Examine the “Adam” and provide us with its data, indicating the whereabouts of the narcotics at thetime of the seizure and how it looked then.

The request was implemented and documents returned from the Italian authorities and the case wasreferred to the court. The competent court rendered its judgement in absentia against the defendants on May
14th, 2017 sentencing them for 10 years in addition to fine and confiscation penalties.

VI. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONSThis paper tried to demonstrate the legal framework of the illicit drug trafficking and general drug
situation in Egypt. Although, the laws and institutions in Egypt are playing an important role in combating
the crimes of illicit drug trafficking, the development of the criminal conduct of the criminals requires morecooperation between the relevant authorities on the national and international level.
It is highly advisable that the legislation on combating narcotic substances needs to be amended in thearea of the criminal organized groups, and procedural rules regarding the international judicial cooperation incases of transnational crimes of illicit drug trafficking need to be added.
As for international judicial cooperation, it is important to overcome some procedural challenges. The longprocess of diplomatic channels that the requests shall follow affect the speed of the criminal investigations. It
is important to establish direct contacts between the relevant authorities in the region through regional
networks and platforms and to designate focal points to assist the criminal investigation and allow the flow of
the information and intelligences between the competent authorities.
Finally, there should be an increase in the awareness of the importance of tracing the proceeds of illicit
drug trafficking through initiating money laundering investigation or implementing confiscation sanctions on
the assets located abroad and attributed to the convicted persons by the means of international judicial
cooperation.

This Request is made on the bases of Principle of Reciprocity, the United Nation Convention Against Transnational
Organized Crime (UNTOC) (adopted by General Assembly resolution 55/25 of 15 November 2000) to which both Egypt and
Italy are members states; the Arab Republic of Egypt signed it on 13 December 2000 and ratified it on 5 March 2004, while Italy
and signed it on 12 December 2000 and ratified it on August 2, 2006; and the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs to which
Egypt ratified on 20 Feb. 1967.
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