DUSHANBE, March 15, Asia-Plus - Tajik border troops have warded off an attempt by a group of armed Afghan drug traffickers to cross the Tajik border in the Khatlon province.  

According to the border directorate of the State Committee for National Security, Tajik border troops on a routine patrol spotted and tried to detain a group of armed Afghan drug traffickers who were illegally crossing the border river in the area of the Tugul village in the Panj district of Khatlon today, early in the morning. 

The trespassers ignored the border guards’ demand to stop.  The border troops later fired at the drug traffickers after they tried to flee.  As a result of a skirmish, one of the trespassers was wounded.  However, the trespassers managed to flee, according the source.  No injured among the border troops was reported, according to the source. 

10 kilograms of cannabis, three kilograms of raw opium and 12 kilograms of Indian hemp, as well as sub-machine-gun Kalashnikov, pistol Makarov and carbine were found on the spot.  Investigation is underway.