DUSHANBE, June 14, 2016, Asia-Plus – An exchange of gunfire has taken place along the Tajik-Afghan border in Khatlon province.

Muhammad Ulughkhojayev, a spokesman for the Main Border Guard Directorate at the State Committee for National Security (SCNS), says the incident took place in the area patrolled by the Hamadoni border unit in the early morning of June 14.

According to him Tajik border guards on a routine patrol spotted and tried to detain a group of drug traffickers numbering four people, who were illegally crossing the border river.

“The trespassers refused to obey border guards’ command to stop and skirmish occurred,” said Ulughkhojayev.  “The trespasser managed to return to the Afghan territory under the cover of darkness.”     

Several packages of narcotic drug that tested positive to hashish weighing more than 22 kilograms were found on the spot, Ulughkhojayev said.