DUSHANBE, January 7, 2009, Asia-Plus — Three Afghan drug traffickers have been killed in a skirmish on the border in the Khatlon province, according to the main border directorate within the State Committee for National Security (GKNB).
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, a spokesman for the border directorate said that servicemen from the Panj border unit on a routine patrol spotted and tried to detain a group of Afghan drug traffickers who were illegally crossing the border river on the nigh of January 5-6.
As a result of skirmish, three Afghan drug traffickers were killed and 22 kilograms of narcotics, including 14, kilograms of heroin, 4 kilograms of raw opium and 4 kilograms of hashish, were found at the scene. No injured was reported among Tajik border guards, according to the source
“The killed drug traffickers were members of the drug-trafficking group led by Sufi Nozukmehr valadi Vakil Akbar, resident of the Afghan city of Imam Sahib,” the spokesman said, noting that according to data of Tajik special services, the group had been engaged in smuggling narcotics into Tajikistan for a long time.
