DUSHANBE, November 10, 2011, Asia-Plus — Over the first ten months of this year, Tajik law enforcement authorities have seized some 4,000 kilograms of narcotics, which is 30.6 percent more than in the same period last year (in January-October 2010, 3,926 kilograms of narcotics were seized in Tajikistan), the Drug Control Agency (DCA) press center reports.
A totaled included more than 493 kilograms of heroin, some 495 kilograms of raw opium and some 2,939 kilograms of cannabis.
The DCA officers alone have seized more than 833 kilograms of narcotics, including 110 kilograms of heroin, 46.5 kilograms of raw opium and 676.5 kilograms of cannabis, over the report period, the source said.
During the same period, the drug control officers reportedly arrested 659 people on drug charges, including 36 foreigners. The report does not detail the outcome of the cases.
Since the beginning of the year, the DCA has reportedly destroyed more than 535 kilograms of narcotics in a special narcotic-burning incinerator.
Over the same ten-month period, Tajik counter narcotics agency has carried out 35 joint operations in cooperation with colleagues from Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Afghanistan. 515 kilograms of narcotics (some 149 kilograms of heroin, 195 kilograms of raw opium, and more than 94 kilograms of cannabis) as well as more than 1,000 kilograms of precursors have been seized in those operations.
