DUSHANBE, July 20, 2013, Asia-Plus – Resident of the northern city of Khujand Sherali Barotov, 28, was arrested by officers from the Interior Ministry’s office for Sughd on suspicion of drug trafficking on July 19.

According to the Interior Ministry’s website reports, 4.422 kilograms of hashish were confiscated from the alleged drug peddler. 

Criminal proceedings have been instituted against Barotov under the provisions of Article 200 (4) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – drug trafficking; an investigation is under way.

Meanwhile, according to the statistical data from the Ministry of Interior (MoI), Tajik law enforcement authorities have seized 1,555 kilograms of narcotics over the first six months of this year, including 152 kilograms of heroin, more than 149.5 kilograms of raw opium, 669 kilograms of cannabis and 584 kilograms of hashish.  Tajik police have reportedly accounted for 41.5 percent of the overall volume of narcotics seized in the country over the same six-month period.