This year has seen 27 engagements between Tajik border guards and armed drug smugglers along Tajikistan’s common border with Afghanistan.

14 trespassers were killed and six injured, Muhammad Ulughkhojayev, a spokesman for the Main Border Guard Directorate at the State Committee for National Security of Tajikistan, told Asia-Plus today morning.

Besides, 18 drug smugglers were detained, Ulughkhojayev said.

904.2 kilograms of narcotic drugs has been intercepted by Tajik border guards jointly with representatives of other Tajik power-wielding structures on the border so far this year.  A totaled reportedly included 21.1 kilograms of heroin, 128.2 kilograms of raw opium, and 755.6 kilograms of hashish.

Tajik border guards have also seized 27 firearms, 1,300 bullets of different caliber, three hand grenades, and 296 kilograms of explosives over the report period.     

This year, international donors – UNODC, the United States, the European Union -- have provided 15 million U.S dollars for strengthening of the Tajik-Afghan border, Ulughkhojayev said, noting that the funds were spent for construction of new frothier posts, training of border guards and strengthening of the material and technical base of Tajik border troops.