Dushanbe, Dec 22: Tajik police have seized 180 kilograms of heroin worth an estimated USD 2 million close to the Tajik-Uzbek border, the interior ministry said. "The heroin was hidden in 31 cases of fruit and was bound for Russia. Seven people were arrested, including the heads of the smugglers providing drugs in Russia, Uzbekistan and Kirghizstan," said the deputy interior minister, General Mukhamadsaid Djurakulov.
"The car carrying the heroin was in an accident. The driver offered police officers a huge bribe and this raised their suspicions," he said.
The impoverished former Soviet Republic of Tajikistan shares a 1,340-kilometre border with Afghanistan.
Tajik police and Russian troops who patrol the Tajik border with Afghanistan have confiscated more than 8 tonnes of drugs so far this year, including 5 tonnes of heroin, officials said. Bureau Report