DUSHANBE, May 16, Asia-Plus -- Over the first two weeks of May, officers from the ministry of interior (MoI) have solved 19 drug-related crimes and seized some 130 kilograms of drugs, Asia-Plus has learned from a reliable source at a MoI.

According to him, the totaled included some 25 kilograms of heroin, 102 kilograms of raw opium and more than one kilogram of cannabis.  

In all, Tajik law-enforcement and power-wielding authorities have seized some 1,690 kilograms of narcotics in the first four months of 2006, including 1,213 kilos seized by police, 390 kilograms seized by border troops, some 83 kilos intercepted by the counternarcotics agency and three kilos intercepted by customs officers, the MoI source said.  The totaled included more than 590 kilograms of heroin, 759 kilograms of raw opium and 336 kilograms of cannabis. 

“The MoI has accounted for 70 percent of narcotics seized in the country over the report period,” the source said, adding that with narcotics seized over the first two weeks of May, officers from the MoI have intercepted 1,343 kilograms of drugs, including 422.5 kilos of heroin, 731.3 kilos of raw opium and 189 kilos of cannabis, since the beginning of the year.

The source added that six special operations “checked delivery [of drugs]” carried out by Tajik police jointly by law enforcement authorities of other countries over the same four-month period have led to the seizure of 52 kilograms of heroin and arrest of 13 drug traffickers in the territory of the Russian Federation.