RUSSIAN BORDERGUARDS WARD OFF ATTEMPT TO SMUGGLE DRUGS.

DUSHANBE, January 25 (Itar-Tass) - Russian borderguards staved off two
attempts at crossing the Tajik-Afghan border at the Ishkashimsky and Khorog
sections over the past 24 hours. They detained four transgressors,
Itar-Tass learnt on Monday at the press centre of Russian border troops in
Tajikistan.

According to initial information, the transgressors are liaison men of
smugglers on both sides of the border.

A press centre official noted that the number of drug couriers grows along
with a steady rise in illegal drug trafficking across the border.
Borderguards detained 250 transgressors last year alone, most of whom were
connected with drug smuggling in some way or other.

They seized over one tonne of narcotics, including over 1.7 kilos of pure
heroin, as well as 50 firearms, over 2,800 rounds of ammunition and a large
sum of U.S. dollars.

During detention operations, there were cases of armed resistance by drug
dealers, as a result of which 35 transgressors were destroyed. Regrettably,
four Russian borderguards were killed and six wounded in firing
engagements.

Attempts to smuggle drugs from Afghanistan into Tajikistan are on the rise
this year too.

Lieutenant-General Nikolai Reznichenko, commander of Russian border troops
in Tajikistan, told a news conference last Sunday that borderguards head
off, virtually every day, attempts to smuggle drugs from Afghanistan,
mostly heroin, the volume of which amounts to two tonnes on the other side
of the Tajik border.