From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Fri Oct 20 2000 - 11:12:59 EDT
Over 70 tonnes of opium and heroin amassed on Afghan-Tajik border -Tajik TV
A huge amount of drugs has piled up on the Afghan frontier areas bordering
on Tajikistan and the number of drug addicts is increasing among youth in
border areas with Afghanistan in eastern Tajikistan, Tajik TV reported on
19th October.
"Over 70 tonnes of raw opium and 2 t of heroin are currently awaiting
shipment on the Afghan-Tajik border," the report said. "In 1991, 10 kg of
heroin were seized in Tajikistan. The figure grew to 270 kg in 1998 and to
700 kg in 1999. Tajik special services confiscated 1 t of heroin in the
first three months of 2000," it added. It also quoted the Tajik Drugs
Control Agency as saying that there are four mini-plants for processing
heroin in Afghan border districts, each of which daily produce more than 20
kg of heroin.
"Tajik special services detained nearly 100 CIS nationals [carrying drugs],
including 30 Uzbek nationals, 27 people from Russia and 18 Kazakh
residents, last year alone," it said. An official said that following a
joint operation, Uzbek, Kazakh and Tajik agencies uncovered "an entire
network of drug smuggling routes" from Tajikistan to Russia.
Source: Tajik Television first channel, Dushanbe, in Russian 1400 gmt 19 Oct
00
BBC Mon CAU 201000/** jf/mi
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