The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), considered to the be the policing agency of the UN, launched a comprehensive program Thursday designed to limit the use of containers in the commission of crimes, including terrorism. According to the UNODC, containers that are legally used to transport bulk materials via marine transport are also often used by organized crime, terrorists, and smugglers to move drugs, weapons, money, and even humans, the last either for the slave trade or for migrant trafficking. The UNODC Container Control Programme (CCP) is designed to reinforce and complement domestic port regulations of countries that handle large portions of the world's 7 million containers - see, for instance the US Container Security Initiative. The UN CCP is also intended to serve as reinforcement on international conventions that prohibit the trafficking of drugs, hazardous waste, nuclear material, and human cargo. The program is being co-sponsored by the World Customs Organization (WCO) and will begin in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and Dakar, Senegal and is scheduled to expand to Ghana and Pakistan next year. The UN News Centre has more.