MOSCOW, August 30 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian security official said the country's security agencies had to "adapt" if they wanted to curb the massive drug inflow from Afghanistan.
"I will not challenge the political decision to withdraw Russian troops from the Tajik-Afghan border, but the pullout has led to the emergence of large batches of illicit drugs on the market," said Alexander Mikhailov, a senior official with the Federal Service for Control over the Turnover of Drugs.
Mikhailov said Afghanistan's drug output was growing by 20%-30% every year, which meant that the narcotics flow out of the country was also increasing.
Mikhailov said security bodies had stepped up activities to seize drugs. "We used to seize an average of from one to five kilograms of drugs every month, but this month we have confiscated several batches weighing 120-130 kilograms each," he said.
"We should intensify efforts to create security zones and get other countries' security agencies engaged (in anti-drug efforts( and thereby compensate for misbalance created by the withdrawal of the Russian border guards from the Tajik-Afghan border," Mikhailov said.
