Situation On Tajik-afghan Border Remains Tense

The situation on the Tajik-Afghan border remains tense. The Federal Frontier Service press-center reported Tuesday that this is caused not only by military actions on the Afghan territory, but also by drug smugglers' high activity. The press center officials said that yesterday Russian border guards from Moscow detachment had been forced to employ arms to detain two drug smugglers from Afghanistan. Border-violators, frightened by shooting, managed to conceal on an island of the Pyandzh river availing themselves of terrain peculiarities and bad visibility at night. While conducting terrain survey, the border guards found a sack containing a packet with white powder and a foreign-made radio station. Officials said that the Pyandzh detachment border guards had also detained an Afghani border violator.