DUSHANBE, December 20, Asia-Plus – Police in Dushanbe burned 265.806 kilograms of drugs today.
The totaled included 163 kilograms of heroin, 65 kilograms of raw opium, 37 kilograms of cannabis, as well as 291 bushes of wild hemp and 80 bushes of poppy.
Major-General Fayzullo Gadoyev, head of the Tajik Interior Ministry”s department for combating drug trafficking (drug police), told Asia-Plus that the destroyed drugs had been confiscated this year and were material evidences on 125 criminal proceedings. “Under these proceedings 130 people, including 24 citizens of Afghanistan, were convicted,” the drug police chief said.
“This is the fifth such drug burning in 2006,” Gadoyev said, noting that 1,960 kilograms of drugs, with 1,319 kilograms of them being heroin, have been destroyed by police this year.
The drug police chief added that officers of the Ministry of Interior (MoI) have seized 2,345 kilograms of drugs, including more than 1,500 kilograms of heroin, this year. The general also noted that an operation carried out by police in the Sino district of Dushanbe yesterday night led to the seizure of 8 kilograms of raw opium. Investigation is under way.
