DUSHANBE, March 17, Asia-Plus  -- More than 55 kilograms of drugs have been intercepted in two separate operations carried out by police officers last weekends.    

            According to the Ministry of Interior (MoI), nearly 40 kilograms were seized by officers from the Dushanbe police directorate in the area of the bread-baking plant in Dushanbe’s Shohmansour district on Saturday March 15.  

Two bags containing some 31 kilograms of hashish and more than eight kilograms of raw opium were found in a car VAZ-21013 belonging to the Dushanbe resident I.M., the source at a MoI said.  I.M. and his passenger were detained on suspicion of having been involved in drug trafficking.        

            The same day, more than 15 kilograms of raw opium were seized in the Vahdar district, some 20 kilometers east of Dushanbe.  The raw opium found in a car VAZ-2108 allegedly belongs to passenger Sh.N.        

            We will recall that Tajik law enforcement agencies have seized nearly one ton of drugs over the first two months of the year, which is some 100 kilograms more than in the same period of 2007.  The totaled included 190 kilograms of heroin and 415 kilograms of raw opium.

As it had been reported earlier, Tajik lwa enforcement agencies seized more than 500 kilograms of opium and heroin in mid-January.  The stash contained mainly opium as well as about 73 kilograms of heroin.  It was the largest single consignment of drugs since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.