Law enforcement authorities in the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO have burnt 336.46 kilograms of narcotic drugs.

According to the Interior Ministry press center, the drugs were confiscated in the course of 2018-2019.

The drugs were reportedly burnt in the presence of representatives of the Interior Ministry’s office in GBAO, the State Committee for National Security (SCNS)’s office in GBAO, GBAO chief prosecutor’s office and the counter-narcotics agency’s office in the region. 

An annual anti-drug operation, dubbed “Kuknor 2019” (Poppy 2019), has been launched in Tajikistan and the GBAO law enforcement authorities have intensified the anti-drug activities.

Over the first fourteen days of the operation, GBAO police officers have reportedly destroyed 198,604 bushes of wild hemp.

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.