DUSHANBE, January 12 (RIA Novosti) - The border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan is poorly equipped to prevent the transportation of illegal drugs across it, the head of the Tajik Agency for Drug Control said Thursday.
Speaking at a meeting with the heads of diplomatic missions and representatives of international organizations accredited in Tajikistan, Rustam Nazarov said only 652 kilometers of the 1,344 km-long border was equipped with any substantial defenses against trafficking.
The rest of the border between the two countries is formed by the Pyandzh river, and is much less well defended, Nazarov said. Tajik border guards had only two helicopters available to them, and their service life would end next month, he said.
Afghanistan is one the world's main producers of illegal drugs, and Tajikistan is a major gateway for smugglers looking to get that production on to CIS and world markets.
Nazarov said his agency seized 922.6 kilograms of drugs in 2005, of which heroin accounted for 561.3 kg. Less drugs were seized in 2005 than in the previous year, due to a decline in drug cultivation in neighboring Afghanistan, he said.
