Tajik-Afghan Border Control Reinforced

The border guards group of the Federal Frontier Service of Russia (FFS) in the Republic of Tajikistan has been reinforced by the reserves of the Russian FFS Director. According to the information received by the RIA Novosti correspondent on Friday from the press-service of the Russian Frontier Service in Tajikistan, this reinforcement is prompted by possible aggravation of the situation in the Tajik-Afghan border, in particular, by ever increasing drug trafficking from Afghanistan to Tajikistan. The Panj, Moscow, Khorog and Kalay-Humbsk borderguard detachments have been reinforced by the personnel from the Russian FFS regional departments. The press-service spokesmen pointed out that in 2000, Russian borderguards detained 3,130 kgs of drugs, including 801 kgs of heroin. For the first four months of this year, officers of the Tajik-Afghan border confiscated about 840 kgs of drugs, including 500 kgs of heroin. -O- (vas/kri) 27/04/01 11:00