QUGHON TEPPA, October 29, 2010, Asia-Plus --  Officers from the Khatlon counternarcotics directorate have broken up five organized drug-trafficking groups and seized 110 kilograms of narcotics since the beginning of this year, the Khatlon counternarcotics directorate chief Zafar Sayfulloyev told Asia-Plus today.

According to him, members of those groups having contacts with Afghan drug dealers have been detained in border districts.  “There are also Afghan nationals among them,” Sayfulloyev said, noting that the Khatlon counternarcotics directorate is closely cooperating with other Tajik law enforcement agencies and Afghan law enforcement authorities in combating drug trafficking in the area.

“This close cooperation has led to decrease in smuggling of narcotic drugs into Tajikistan,” the Khatlon counter narcotics directorate chief stressed.  

In all, Khatlon law enforcement authorities have reportedly seized 587 kilograms of narcotics since the beginning of the year, which is 50 percent fewer than in the same period last year, when 1,014 kilograms of narcotics were seized in the province.