A military court in Tajikistan’s southern region of Khatlon sentenced five border guards to prison terms ranging from three to 21 years for smuggling drugs. The harshest sentence was given to Nizomiddin Yakubov, the former chief at the Vakhsh checkpoint on the Tajik-Afghan border.
After a court session in November 2012, a judge told journalists that investigators found 20 kilograms (45 pounds) of hashish in Yakubov’s office earlier that year. The same month, a spokestman for Tajikistan’s State Committee for National Security told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that a top police official in Khatlon was arrested after investigators found 12 kilograms (26 pounds) of heroin in his possession.
Authorities have been cracking down on Afghan-produced drugs that are illegally transported via Central Asia to Russia and Europe. Last year, Tajik authorities confiscated 4.2 tons of illegal drugs from smugglers. By eliminating the drugs from black markets, officials deter not only drug traffickers, but extremists, who rely on profits from the illicit trade to fund their operations.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty