RUSSIAN BORDER GUARDS CONFISCATED MORE THAN 1,300 KILOGRAMS OF DRUGS

DUSHANBE. Troops of the Russian Federal Border Service in Tajikistan have
confiscated more than 1,300 kilograms of drugs, including over 970
kilograms of heroin, on the Tajik-Afghan border since the beginning of the
year, the Russian border department's press secretary Sergey Ivanchenko
told journalists Tuesday. "The amount of heroin seized over the period
greatly exceeds all last year's indicators. For the entire year of 2000,
more than 800 kilograms of heroin were confiscated on the Tajik-Afghan
border," he said. The spokesman also noted 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," Sergey Ivanchenko told.