DUSHANBE, April 6, 2011, Asia-Plus –  Kyrgyz authorities say that one Tajik citizen was killed during an anti-drug operation on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports.

Kyrgyz officials said on April 4 that Umed Nizomov was killed and Tajik national Abdulmajid Ghulomnosirov was detained carrying one kilogram of drugs during an operation carried out on April 2-3 by Kyrgyz security forces on the border of the Kyrgyz Batken and Tajik Sughd regions.

Vahhob Boboyev, Nizomov''s father, said he met with the head of police in the Lailak district of Batken province and discussed the details of his son''s killing.

Boboyev said the police chief claimed Nizomov attacked a policeman with a knife and was killed by another officer.  But Boboyev said they did not prove that his son was smuggling drugs.

Tajikistan''s Sughd and Kyrgyzstan''s Batken regions share a 270-kilometer border that is divided by a road in some areas but is largely unmarked. The area is often used by smugglers.

Tajik affairs analyst Tilav Rasulzoda said that sometimes police from both countries use the battle against smuggling as an excuse to detain people and extort money from them.