OVER 1,300 KILOGRAMS OF DRUGS CONFISCATED ON TAJIK-AFGHAN BORDER THIS YEAR

MOSCOW. Guards from the Border Group of Russia's Federal Border
Service have confiscated more than 1,300 kg of drugs, including over
970 kg of heroin, on the Tajik-Afghan border since the year began,
the Russian border department's press secretary Sergei Ivanchenko
told Interfax on Tuesday.

"The amount of heroin impounded over the period glaringly exceeds all
last year's indicators. For the entire year of 2000, more than 800 kg
of heroin was held up on the Tajik-Afghan border," he said.

Ivanchenko also said that most attempts to smuggle drugs across the
Tajik-Afghan frontier are accompanied by armed clashes with drug
traffickers.

"In 2001, Russian border guards have engaged infiltrators over 20
times and have been fired on about 30 times. Three servicemen have
been wounded," the spokesman said.