DUSHANBE, October 6, 2010, Asia-Plus — Tajik border guards seized nearly 140 kilograms of narcotics, including 28 kilograms of heroin, in three separate operations carried out Monday night. Two Afghan armed trespassers were reported killed.
According to Khoushnoud Rahmatulloyev, a spokesman for the Main Border Guards Directorate within the State Committee for National Security, Monday night saw two skirmishes between Tajik border guards and Afghan armed drug traffickers on the Tajik-Afghan border in Khatlon province.
“Tajik border guards on a routine patrol spotted a group of armed Afghans numbering 9 persons who were illegally crossing the border river in Shouroobod district Monday night,” said the spokesman, “When the border guards tried to detain the trespassers, the last opened fire at them; the border guards responded to the shooting and the trespassers were forced to return to Afghan territory. One of the trespassers was killed in a shootout and 80 kilograms of cannabis and two assault rifles Kalashnikov were found on the spot.”
The same time, Tajik border guards warded off an attempt by 10 Afghan armed drug traffickers to cross the border river in Hamadoni district. As a result of skirmish, one of the trespassers was killed while the others managed to flee. 26 kilograms of heroin and two kilograms of raw opium were found on the spot.
The same day, resident of the village of Surkhcha in Panajkent district (Sughd province) was detained at the Tajik-Uzbek border. 28 kilograms of raw opium were confiscated from him, the spokesman said.
Since the beginning of the year, Tajik border guards have seized more than 500 kilograms of narcotics.
