Stemming the heroin tide

Peering through his binoculars, a young soldier, barely 20 years old, scans the horizon outside the border town of Moskva, in southeastern Tajikistan's Khatlon province. One of thousands of Russian border guards along the 1,200 km frontier between Tajikistan and Afghanistan, he is the first line of defence along one of the most important transit routes for Afghan heroin today. Russia has maintained border guards along the Tajik-Afghan frontier since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, preceding a formal agreement with the Tajik government to do so in 1993. Historically described as the soft underbelly of a vast Russian empire, the rugged, mountainous, often porous frontier has long been viewed as too much of a possible security risk by Moscow for the impoverished, ill resourced nation - still reeling from the effects of five years of civil war - to safeguard on its own. But in a move which is already raising eyebrows in the West, Tajikistan is moving towards replacing all Russian border guards with conscripts from its own national army, a move which could further exacerbate the flow of drugs - particularly heroin - passing through the former Soviet republic. That development - and the impact the drug trade is having on Central Asia's poorest nation - is now being debated. "It's in everyone's interest - Tajikistan's, the region's, Russia's, western Europe's, the whole international community's - to make sure that the massive amount of narcotics flowing out of Afghanistan does not destabilise this country," US Ambassador to Tajikistan, Richard E Hoagland, told IRIN in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. THE FACTS According to Tajikistan's Drug Control Agency (DCA), the country accounts for more than 90 percent of Afghan drugs seized in Central Asia today, a fact confirmed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). "Tajikistan is the main transit country for drugs in Central Asia," Major Avaz Yuldashov of the DCA told IRIN in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. After Pakistan and Iran, the mountainous state ranked third in drug seizures in 2003, capturing 9.6 mt of drugs, including 6 mt of heroin.

Major Avaz Yuldashov of Tajikistan's DCA Credit: IRIN

And while experts remain reluctant to guess the amount of opium passing through the country's borders, estimates based on seizures are startling. "In 2003, 2,371 kg of opium were seized in Tajikistan," James Callahan, UNODC regional representative for Central Asia, told IRIN from the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. "Even if we assume that seizures are about 10 percent - which is high enough - it would give the figure of about 23,000 kg as a possible amount of opium passing through the country." Similar extrapolations regarding heroin are even more revealing. Given the 5,600 kg of heroin seized in 2003, assuming a real figure of some 50,000 kg and a street value of US $9,000 per kg in Tajikistan, its street value in Dushanbe would be about $450 million, Callahan calculated, noting that that figure would rise to between $1.5 and 1.8 billion in Moscow, and exceed $3 billion in some EU countries. INSIDE AFGHANISTAN The problem begins just south of the border in Afghanistan, where despite international efforts, poppy cultivation continues largely unabated. While there are no reliable figures, preliminary assessments and satellite photos suggest a bumper crop for 2004. "Given the data I have seen so far, any increase between 30 and 80 percent would not surprise me," Thomas Pietschmann, research officer for the UNODC in Vienna told IRIN, suggesting that 2004’s could be the largest harvest yet, putting a heavier burden on neighbouring countries to fight drug trafficking, including Tajikistan. And while some eradication had taken place, it seemed to have started too late, according to the drug expert. That fact could well prove a major challenge for Tajikistan's DCA - largely out resourced and outgunned by the powerful Afghan drug lords to the south - despite international donor assistance. "Following the demise of the Taliban, everyone in the international community expected a decline in poppy cultivation, but that has not been the case," Yuldashov said. There had been an eight to nine-fold increase in Afghan heroin production, he claimed, noting that even the area of raw opium cultivation had grown exponentially - from 10,000 hectares during the time of the Taliban to at least 82,000 now. From 2002 to 2003, areas under cultivation increased by a minimum of 30 percent, the Tajik DCA official said. "Comparing 2002 to 2003, cultivation areas near the Tajik-Afghan border had increased by 50 percent," he warned, adding that cultivation and lab production of heroin in Afghanistan was now out of control. THE ROUTE THROUGH TAJIKISTAN His assessment may be correct. Over a six-year period from 1998 to 2003, 30 mt of drugs and narcotics were seized in Tajikistan - including 16 mt of heroin, DCA figures suggest. Smugglers - determined to bring drugs through whatever the cost - are increasingly employing more sophisticated techniques. While conventional methods of stashing drugs in the false bottoms of cars and trucks crossing the border continue, donkey carts and camels are also being used. An increasing number of women and children are being used as couriers, which provides the smugglers with a cheap means of moving their goods. Some of the couriers swallow the contraband to discharge later. Some mothers hide it on their children. Others in their clothes and on their person.

Patrolling the 1,200 km border with Afghanistan has proven a challenge Credit: Tajik Drug Control Agency

Along border areas where the Pyandz river is shallow, such "mules" have been known to wade across with the contraband on their heads, often hiding the drugs in the thick reeds and marshes prevalent in the area. In a brazen challenge to the authorities, over the past three years heroin has begun arriving on the streets of Dushanbe in neatly packed one-kg packages - complete with the name of the producer in Afghanistan stamped on the front. A map of Afghanistan on the front with an arrow pointing to Tajikistan leaves little doubt as to the route the "product" is expected to take. "It is regarded as a challenge," Yuldashov bristled. "It's proof that production and manufacturing of heroin [in Afghanistan] is out of control." Given that, the withdrawal of several thousand Russian border guards in the region could have serious implications. Though there have been some cases reported of Russian troops being involved in trafficking activities, according to Pietschmann they are very much the exception. "In contrast, areas controlled by the Tajik army are generally seen as weak spots," the UNODC official warned during a recent visit to the region. He said he had been told that a number of Afghan warlords involved in opiate trafficking in the northern provinces had "good relations" with Tajik border posts. After passing the border in the hands of Tajik drug smugglers, the heroin leaves the country by way of criminal syndicates and gangs for the larger cities and towns of Russia and the European Union. "They go to Russia via Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, or via Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, or via Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan," Pietschmann explained. "Much of the trafficking takes place by rail. There is also a significant involvement of women as drug couriers," he added. "The area of highest seizures is between the Uzbek/Afghan border and the beginning of the Pamir mountain range," Callahan added. "There is some indication that Afghanistan's heroin may be reaching western China through Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan-Kazakhstan, but this has not been verified." SOCIAL IMPACT The social impact drug trafficking is having on the landlocked nation of 7 million people remains largely unreported. Although largely a transit country, some of the drugs remain in Tajikistan, fuelling increasing levels of crime, corruption, drug addiction and HIV/AIDS. "Drug addiction is on the rise," Azamdjon Mirzoev, director of Tajikistan's Republic Centre for AIDS Prevention and Control, told IRIN in Dushanbe, describing intravenous drug usage as the main mode of HIV transmission.

Heroin packages siezed by Tajik drug control authorities show a map of Afghanistan and an arrow pointing to Tajikistan Credit: IRIN

Although estimates vary, health experts believe there are between 30,000 and 50,000 intravenous drug users in Tajikistan alone. Since 1991, 228 cases of HIV/AIDS have officially been registered: a significant number of them were recorded in the first four months of this year, Mirzoev observed. But despite the flow of so much high-priced heroin through the country, there are no residual benefits for most Tajiks, 83 percent of whom live below the national poverty line, with a full 17 percent of the population considered destitute, according to the World Bank. "There is no real monetary benefit for the average Tajik in having all these drugs, while there are any number of social problems," one Western diplomat in the Tajik capital told IRIN. But for a small number of people in Tajikistan, drug trafficking has proved profitable - not in the macro sense, she stressed, noting that no hospitals, schools or roads were being built to benefit the Tajik people. "A few people are building mansions and driving Mercedes, and have tremendous Swiss bank accounts. But the money is not staying in the country and helping the people. It's not taxed. There's absolutely no benefit for the Tajik people," the diplomat maintained. Local residents interviewed by IRIN agreed. One university student pointed to a late model luxury car - largely uncommon on the streets of Dushanbe – describing it as just another example of how a small number of individuals were profiting from the trade and of the government's seeming inability to deal with it. "It's obvious what they are doing,” the student said. “We call them 'drug mobiles'. What else can they be?" CORRUPTION But reducing the influence of wealthy traffickers in a country where corruption is endemic won't be easy. In Tajikistan, where doctors earn as little as $5 or $6 a month, it's not difficult to understand why. Much of the corruption is need-based, from the police right up to officials in the government. Without it, survival in the region's poorest nation is nearly impossible.

Suspicious wealth on the streets of Dushanbe Credit: IRIN

"I'm not saying that every person in Tajikistan is corrupt. I'm not saying that the entire government is corrupt, but you have to understand that civil servants don't make very much and they are frequently expected 'to purchase' their jobs," another Western diplomat told IRIN, requiring them to go into debt to get the job. "The expectation is that they will take bribes to pay this debt back - and continue to take bribes to make the job profitable." That reality presents a major challenge for those wishing to mitigate the billion-dollar drug trade through the country, given the level of poverty. And while those contracted to work as Russian border guards - generally Tajik nationals - earn just $12 to $15 a month, Tajik conscripts earn less than a dollar. "Suppose you're a Tajik border guard and a drug smuggler wants to come through. These guys are much better equipped, better armed and very serious. 'I'll give you $5 to go smoke a cigarette or I'll shoot you,' they say, leaving you with little to no choice," the diplomat said, asking: "What do you do?" THE WAY FORWARD That's precisely the question being asked by international drug experts now. "Tajikistan has to develop capacities needed for full sustainability in drug control areas which will take time and serious efforts at political, legislative and technical levels," UNODC's Callahan said, adding that Dushanbe needed to develop an efficient system of border control, which was a problem of vital importance, possibly with wider regional implications. One way forward is a further strengthening of the DCA. Since its establishment in 1999, the UN-organised office has taken the lead role in the fight against drugs. So successful have their efforts been, there is growing concern that traffickers may be diverting their operations through neighbouring Turkmenistan, which shares a 744-km border with Afghanistan, instead. Although good news for Tajikistan, such a development could be disastrous for reclusive Turkmenistan - a country the International Narcotics Board (INCB) maintains has failed to do enough to stem the tide of drugs in the region. Over the past five years, the DCA has received some $9 million in international assistance in its war against drug trafficking, primarily from Washington, but also from Norway, Canada, France, Japan, Germany and Italy, according to Yuldashov. "The street value of opium seized in Tajikistan was approximately $1.5 billion. You can compare the input and the output," the DCA official said proudly. That pride is being shared by donors and UNODC officials alike. "The establishment of the Drug Control Agency in Tajikistan is a milestone in the history of drug control in the region," Antonio Maria Costa, UNODC's executive director, said during a May visit to Dushanbe. "Over the past five years, Tajikistan has become one of the leading countries in the world in opiates interceptions," the top UNODC official explained, adding the impressive results achieved in the country provided a model to be replicated in neighbouring countries as well. "The DCA has established a reputation - I would say a world-class reputation - of an honest organisation that is playing an important role," US Ambassador Hoagland echoed in a testament to Washington's continued financial support for the DCA's activities. But with the withdrawal of Russian border troops appearing increasingly imminent, it's clear that more needs to be done. "There are concerns right now being voiced internationally because the Russian border force may withdraw from the border within the next year or so. That would raise questions of whether the Tajik border guard is prepared to assume those responsibilities. I think they will be, but it's going to take a fair amount of international assistance and cooperation - including cooperation from Russia - to achieve this goal," the ambassador warned. The UNODC's Callahan agrees. "Politically the [Tajik] government is willing and prepared for the task of protection of the country's borders, but it faces enormous difficulties and needs considerable international support." In response to a request from the Tajik government, the United States and the European Union sent a joint assessment team to visit the country in June to examine the border situation and determine what assistance might be needed to improve border security, but maintain the issue is a bilateral one between Tajikistan and Russia. Others, however, feel it goes beyond that.