UZBEK POLICE CRACK DRUG RING

TASHKENT. Police in Uzbekistan's southern Surkhandarya Region have cracked
a drug ring that smuggled opium and heroin from Tajikistan into Russia via
Uzbekistan.

Two people in the town of Termez in the Region, which borders on Tajikistan
and Afghanistan, used to supply associates in the capital, Tashkent, with
large amounts of opium and occasionally heroin, which were then smuggled
into Russia, since May 1999.

Their business prospered until 19 April 2000, when a customs post in the
Region found 26 kilograms of opium hidden in a lorry heading for Tashkent.
Four members of the gang were detained on the same day. Another driver
involved in the drug business was arrested a few days later. The three drug
peddlers and two lorry drivers were sentenced to various prison terms,
ranging from 15 to 20 years.