Tajik border guards have reportedly warded off an attempt by Afghan armed drug traffickers to smuggle a large amount of narcotic drugs into Tajikistan, three drug traffickers have been killed.

“Border guards on a routine patrol spotted a group of Afghan armed drug smugglers that were illegally crossing the border river in the area patrolled by the “Sayod” frontier post of the “Hamadoni” border union at the end of last week,” Mohammad Ulughkhojayev, a spokesman for the Main Border Troops Directorate at the State Committee for National Security (SCNS), told Asia-Plus Monday morning.

As a result of exchange of gunfire, three trespassers were killed and one another wounded, according to Ulughkhojayev.  The drug traffickers were forced to return to Afghan territory.    

45.5 kilograms of narcotics were found on the spot.  A reportedly totaled included 3.5 kilograms of raw opium, 32 kilograms of hashish and ten kilograms of heroin. 

Besides, two assault rifles Kalashnikov and 270 bullets were found on the spot, Ulughkhojayev said.  No casualties were reported among the border guards, he added.