Russian border forces intercept drug smugglers

Russian border guards on Wednesday intercepted a boat carrying 15 armed drug smugglers attempting to cross from Afghanistan into Tajikistan, Interfax news agency reported. The incident happened as the Afghan group were met on the bank of the river Pyandj, on the Tajik-Afghan border, by a supporting team from Tajikistan. An exchange of gunfire broke up an attempted handover and both groups fled, the report said. Two bodies in camouflage, 30 packets of heroin and two Kalashnikov automatic rifles were later found at the scene, Interfax said. Tajik authorities and Russian border forces have stepped up their efforts to stem the illegal transit of drugs from Afghanistan into Tajikistan. So far this year, 4,000 mt of narcotics, including 1,500 kg of heroin, have been seized on the Tajik-Afghan border.

Meanwhile, Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov was in Palermo, Italy, on Tuesday, addressing a UN conference on combating international organised crime. He said that international drug barons were using Tajikistan as a “bridgehead for smuggling drugs from Afghanistan to other CIS countries and to Europe.” He called for more active measures to eradicate drug smuggling and to secure an Afghan settlement, and said that Afghanistan had become a global centre of drug production and a hotbed of international terrorism.