KHUJAND, December 29, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Four drug peddlers have been instituted to long-term prison in northern Tajikistan.

The Khujand city court ruled on December 28 that the Begov brothers – Fathullo, 54, and Meliksho, 30 – as well as the 47-year-old Mahmadsharif Niyozov and the 40-year-old Mehrojiddin Azimov (all of them are residents of Dushanbe) be given long jail terms and that they will serve them in a high-security penal colony.

According to the Khujand court chairperson Shahodat Kholiqova, Fathullo Begov was sentenced to 15 years in prison and Meliksho Begov was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment, while Niyozov and Azimov got jail terms of 13 and 8 years respectively.  The sentence followed their conviction on charges of a large-scale drug trafficking.

“Officers from the Sughd counter narcotics directorate detained the drug peddlers in January this year and 23 packages containing heroin were confiscated from them,” Ms. Kholiqova said.