DUSHANBE, September 19, Asia-Plus  -- Two Afghan drug traffickers with a large amount of raw opium have been detained in the Khatlon province.

According to press service of the main border directorate within the State Committee for National Security (GKNB), two Afghan nationals were detained on the Panj stretch of the Tajik-Afghan border in the Khatlon province yesterday.  15 kilograms of raw opium were confiscated from them, the source said.  

The GKNB investigation department has instituted criminal proceedings against them and an investigation is under way.   

Since the beginning of this year, servicemen of the Panj border unit have detained 13 border violators and seized 147 kilograms of narcotic drugs, with more than half (76 kilos) of them being heroin. 

This year has seen several skirmishes between border guards and armed drug smugglers on the Panj stretch of the Tajik-Afghan border Tajik-Afghan border.  Three drug smugglers have been killed.