Tajiks bag biggest drugs haul since independence

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DUSHANBE, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Tajik forces seized more than 500 kilos (1,100 lb) of opium and heroin on Thursday in the biggest drugs haul since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, a security source said.

Tajikistan, an impoverished Muslim state, lies on the main trafficking route out of neighbouring Afghanistan, the world's top producer of opium and its refined form, heroin.

The source said the stash contained mainly opium as well as about 73 kilos of heroin.

"A number of people were arrested during the operation," the source said, without giving details. "A total of 517 kilos of drugs were seized."

Since independence from Moscow, Tajikistan has struggled to contain heroin smuggling from Afghanistan, with poverty and unemployment making the country an easy conduit for trafficking. (Reporting by Roman Kozhevnikov; Writing by Maria Golovnina; Editing by Stephen Weeks)

http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSL31882817