KULOB, July 20, 2012, Asia-Plus -- 951 kilograms of narcotics, primarily cannabis type of drug, have been seized in an anti-drug operation, dubbed Devolbars, which has been carried out by police officers in the Devolbars area of Khatlon’s Shouroobod district, Abdulvahob Iskandarov, deputy chief of the Khatlon police directorate in charge of the Kulob region, told Asia-Plus today.

“Besides, an arms cache containing firearms, camouflage uniform, bayonets and more than 1,000 bullets of different caliber was discovered during the operation,” Iskandarov said.

We will recall that police officers discovered a huge drug cache in the Devolbars area on June 15.  One bayonet and 20 bags of narcotic drug that tested positive to cannabis weighing nearly 419 kilograms were extracted from the hide.  The cache reportedly belonged to Afghan drug smugglers.

More than 100 kilograms of cannabis were seized in the same area on June 10.  An armed clash reportedly took place between police officers and a group of Afghan armed drug traffickers during a special operation launched in the Devolbars.   The police officers fought off the armed smuggler who went into hiding on the neighboring territory [Afghanistan].  Over 100 kg of the cannabis group of drugs and a TOZ-16 rifle were found at the scene of the incident.

Besides, more than 90 kilograms of drugs were seized in the Devolbars area during a special operation on June 6.

Shouroobod area is the most vulnerable part of Tajikistan’s common border with Afghanistan.  Isknadarov says that one of sections of the Tajik-Afghan border in Shouroobod, which is approximately 35,000 hectares in size, have never been controlled by border guards.