Russian border guards seize largest ever drugs cache on Tajik-Afghan border

Russian border guards working on the Tajik-Afghan border have made their largest ever find of heroin. As the Russian border control department announced, border guards discovered a group of ten people crossing the Pianj river on two rafts attempting to smuggle drugs across the border. When they reached the Tajik bank of the river the border guards made an attempt to arrest them and an exchange of gunfire ensued. The smugglers then abandoned their cargo and made use of the darkness to return to the Afghan bank of the river.

At the scene of the incident the border guards found nine bags containing 297 kilogrammes of heroin in total and several weapons. Fortunately, none of the guards were injured in the gunfire. The following morning the guards discovered another three bags of heroin, weighing 92.7 kilogrammes. The total cache of drugs therefore comes to 389.7 kilogrammes. The drugs will now be destroyed.

Since the beginning of this year border guards in Tajikistan have seized about 3 tonnes of different drugs including 1.75 tonnes of heroin.