Posted on 06/20/2002 3:57:57 AM PDT by Bad~Rodeo
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan (AP) - Border guards have seized one of their biggest-ever hauls of heroin on the Afghan-Tajik border - 211 pounds of the drug made from the first post-Taliban poppy harvest.
Russian border guards helping to patrol the border fired warning shots when they noticed five infiltrators making their way across the Pyandzh River into southern Tajikistan late Wednesday, spokesman Alexander Kondratyev said Thursday.
They then opened fire, killing two, but the other three traffickers managed to flee back into Afghanistan, Kondratyev said.
The infiltrators left behind 90 packages of heroin. Investigators have determined the drug was produced from this year's harvest, he said.
Heroin production in Afghanistan plummeted after the Taliban militia cracked down on poppy production during its last year in power. The drug trade has blossomed again since the U.S.-backed northern alliance defeated the Taliban.
Russia has about 25,000 troops stationed in Tajikistan to help prevent smuggling. The poor former Soviet republic is still struggling to recover from a five-year civil war that ended in 1997.
The largest seizure of heroin on the border was in February 2001, when guards seized 422 pounds. In a single day in July 2001, they confiscated 2.4 tons of opium.
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