DUSHANBE, July 18, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- Officers from the Drug Control Agency (DCA) have detained a drug peddler who was trying to travel to Moscow by plane with drugs in his stomach.

The source at the DCA says the 23-year-old resident of the city of Norak was detained at the Dushanbe airport at the end of last week on suspicion of having been involved in drug pushing.

The peddler had reportedly ingested 106 wraps of narcotic drug that tested positive to hashish weighing some 500 grams.  The drug peddler got a strong poisoning when one of the wraps he ingested burst, the source said, noting that medical aid was provided to him opportunely.

The peddler, who is injecting drug user, said he had bought hashish from the 23-year-old resident of Kulob who had put him on the needle.  The accomplice from Kulob was also detained.

Criminal proceedings have been instituted under the provisions of three articles of Tajikistan’s Penal Code: Article 200 (3) – drug trafficking; Article 32 (3) – preparation for crime or criminal attempt; and Article 289 (2) – smuggling.  An investigation is under way.