DUSHANBE, September 23, Asia-Plus  -- The Kulob prosecutor’s office today instituted criminal proceedings against four border guards that were detained in the Khatlon province yesterday on suspicion of having been involved in drug trafficking.  

Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Alfattoh Roziqov, deputy Khatlon prosecutor in charge of the Kulob region, said that the private soldier Kamol Elmurdov of border unit 2133 deployed in Khatlon’s Hamadoni district and three his associates (their name are not disclosed in the interest of investigation) were detained yesterday on suspicion of having been involved in drug trafficking.  More than 17 kilograms of marijuana and more than 8 kilograms of raw opium were confiscated from them.  

It is not the first case when border guards serving in Khatlon are found to be involved in drug trafficking, the prosecutor said.  “It is already the third case over the past two weeks, when servicemen of border units 2931 and 21 33 deployed in Shuroobod and Hamadoni districts are detained on suspicion of having been involved in drug trafficking,” Roziqov said.