DUSHANBE , February 9, Asia-Plus - Afghan drug traffickers have left over 70 kilograms of heroin on the spot and escaped. Tajik border troops and officers from the Tajik Drug Control (DCA) today morning jointly seized a large amount of heroin at the Tajik-Afghan border in Hamadoni district of Khatlon.  

According to information from the DCA, today, early in the morning, Tajik border troops spotted and tried to detain a group of Afghan drug traffickers who were illegally crossing the border river in the area patrolled by Frontier Post # 5, Hamadoni Border Unit.   As a result of skirmish, one Afghan drug trafficker was detained while others managed to flee.  The detainee proved to be 20-year-old resident of the Afghan province of Takhor Abdusalom valadi Shiakhtabar.  

72 packages containing 71.10 kilograms of heroin were found on the spot, according to the source.  The DCA source has said that it was the largest single consignment of heroin seized this year.  It is supposed that the drugs were intended for transporting to northern Tajikistan and from there to the Russian Ural federal district.