DUSHANBE, July 20, Asia-Plus -- Officers from the Sughd directorate of the Tajik Drug Control Agency (DCA) have detained the owner of a package containing some 3.5 kilograms of heroin that was discovered on the side of the road from Khujand to Ghafurov, administrative center of the district of Bobojonghafurov in the Sughd province, according to information from the DCA headquarters in Dushanbe.

The DCA spokesman Avaz Yuldoshev says the owner proved to be 26-year-old resident of the Bobojonghafurov district.  Investigation is under way.

We will recall that officers from the Tajik Drug Control Agency (DCA) have seized some 580 kilograms of drugs over the first six months of this year.  The totaled included more than 289 kilograms of heroin, some 55 kilograms of raw opium, and some 235 kilograms of cannabis.  20 joint operations by DCA and officers from other Tajik power-wielding structures as well as CIS and Afghanistan special services have led to the seizure of more than 588 kilograms of drugs, with 307 kilograms of them being heroin, in January-June this year.  In the course of the “Poppy 2006” Operation, officers from the DCA have destroyed 61,713 bushes of wild Indian hemp across the republic.