Regarding the Entry of the Medicine Named Tramadol into Turkmenistan

Dear Member,

In the letter sent to our Chamber by TOBB, with reference to the letter of the Ministry of Trade dated 02.08.2023 and numbered 87728654, and with reference to the letter received from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reference is made to Article 276 of the Criminal Code of Turkmenistan, which contains the provision that the unauthorised passage through Turkmen customs of psychotropic substances and their precursors, or instruments that may be used to prepare these substances, as well as large quantities of medicinal products containing tramadol products and other psychoactive substances, shall be punished by imprisonment of three to eight years; in this context, it is stated that, between 2012-2019, 14 of our citizens working as carriers (TIR drivers) in Turkmenistan were sentenced to 8-10 years of imprisonment on the grounds of bringing quantities of Tramadol ranging from 100 grams to 31 kg into the country, and 6 of our citizens were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 7-24 years on the grounds of bringing other narcotic substances into the country together with Tramadol, and that our citizens who had been in prison for periods of 2 to 9 years were released by the amnesty decision signed on 8 May 2021 by the then President of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.

The letter goes on to state that, for the first time since 8 May 2021, one of our citizens, a TIR driver, was arrested on 28 June 2023 on the grounds of attempting to bring 30 tablets of Tramadol into Turkmenistan, and that the said driver was released on 13 July 2023, taking into account that he had committed a moderately serious offence for the first time, that the medicine had been purchased from a pharmacy in Iran, and that the offence posed no public danger.

In this context, the Ministry requests that the necessary warnings be given regarding the medicine named Tramadol, the introduction of which into Turkmenistan may result in imprisonment and which is known to be freely sold in Iran, frequently used by our carriers as a transit route, and other medicines containing psychoactive substances.

Kind regards,

Elazığ Chamber of Commerce and Industry