DUSHANBE, February 1, Asia-Plus -- More than 1,360 kilograms of drugs, with more than 830 kilograms of them being heroin, were seized by Tajik border troops in cooperation with other Tajik power-wielding structures in 2005, Colonel-General Saydamir Zuhurov, Chairman of the State Committee for Protection of State Border of Tajikistan, remarked at a news conference in Dushanbe on February 1.  

Besides, more than 218,000 bushes of hemp were destroyed last year, according to him.   “If in the previous years mainly drug caches had been discovered, last year in the majority of cases drugs were confiscated from the detained drug traffickers,” Tajik border service chief noted.   36 drug traffickers were detained at the border last year; of them, 29 were detained at the Tajik-Afghan border, according to him.  

Saydamir Zuhurov also noted that last year saw 144 attempts of illegally crossing the border (in 2003 – 33 attempts), and 371 people were detained in 205 when they were trying to illegally cross the border.  “Last year, 1,103 violators of border and 164 violators of border regime requirements were detained at the border crossings,” the Tajik border service chief said.

According to him, Tajik border troops seized more than 60 unit of firearms last year.