DUSHANBE, September 7, Asia-Plus – Tajik border guards seized 72.5 kilograms of drugs, including 550 grams of heroin, during the first stage of the anti-drug operation conducted by member nations of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), dubbed Channel 2007, which ran from August 28 to September 3., Asia-Plus has learned at the border troops directorate of the State Committee for National Security.
Besides, Tajik border guards have detained 17 trespassers and confiscated two firearms, 13 land mines, one hand grenade RGD and a large number of bullets of different caliber over the report period
The operation was aimed at discovering and shutting down drug-smuggling routes.
We will recall that in all, more than 10 metric tons of drugs had been seized during the first stage of the Operation Channel 2007. This year 17 drug supply chains have been shut down, including drug trafficking routes from China to Mongolia, Belarus to Russia, and Poland to Europe.
Six thousand task forces were formed from 91,000 drug officers, security agents, border guards and customs officers from Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. This year anti-drug squads from Azerbaijan, the United States, China, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia, Poland, Ukraine, and Finland took part in the operation as observers.
Operation Channel has been run annually by anti-narcotic units of the CSTO countries since 2003.
