An annual anti-drug operation, dubbed “Kuknor 2017” (Poppy 2017), has been launched in Tajikistan.

The first meeting of the operation’s staff took place at the Drug Control Agency (DCA) under the President of Tajikistan on May 16.

Presided over by the first deputy head of the counter narcotics agency, Zafar Samad, the meeting reportedly discussed organizational issues and interaction between ministries and agencies involved in the operation.

According to the Tajik counter narcotics agency, the meeting participants included representatives of the Security Council, the DCA, the Interior Ministry, the Customs Service and the State Committee for National Security.  They reportedly approved the plan of actions of the Kuknor 201 Operation.

The Operation Kuknor, involving representatives of law enforcement agencies, local authorities, ministries of agriculture and health, as well as the committee for TV and radio-broadcasting, is designed to interdict narcotics trafficking and eliminate poppy cultivation in the country.  

This annual anti-drug operation is carried out in two stages: from May 20 through August and from September 1 through November.