Five held as Tajik border troops seize 148 kg of hashish near Panjob
Tajikistan's security service and border troops stopped a drug consignment at the Panjob outpost in Mir Said Ali Hamadoni district and detained five people, four Tajik citizens and one Afghan. The forensic department put the haul at 148 kg 129 g of hashish and 30 kg 333 g of opium, and criminal cases were opened.
🇹🇯 Panjob border outpost, Mir Said Ali Hamadoni district, Khatlon · Tajikistan
Four of the group were Tajik citizens and one was an Afghan citizen.[1]The
first suspect, Bobojon Abdulhak, born in 1991 and living in Dushanbe, was held
with 139 parcels of drugs in his car.[2]Securing service officers found
another 41 parcels of drugs hidden in the same district.[2]Investigators said
he had bought the drugs from Afghan smugglers for 20,000 US dollars to send them
on to Dushanbe and Sughd region and out of the country.[2]The other four
detainees were named as Afghan citizen Akbari Hijrat Akbar, 1994, from Kabul and
living in Vahdat, and Tajik citizens Kosimzoda Safarali, Ibrohimov Rahmonali and
Nazirov Dilovar.[3]Asia-Plus reported that the accomplices were arrested in
Dushanbe and Khujand.[1]
The forensic department of the Drug Control Agency under the president put the
total weight of the seizure at 178 kg845 g.[3]Of that total, 148 kg129 g
was hashish, the cannabis product recorded here.[3]The remaining 30 kg333 g
was opium, a separate substance not counted in the cannabis figure.[3]The
security service called the crime the work of an organised transnational group
of drug couriers made up of Tajik and Afghan citizens.[3]RFE/RL’s Azattyk
Asia reported the operation was announced after the seizure and that the vehicle
belonged to a taxi service.[4]
Asia-Plus said the exact date of the detentions remained unknown and no comment
came from the detainees or their relatives.[1]Criminal cases were opened and
investigative measures were continuing.[2]
Photos and video
Security service handout photo of the seized parcels of drugs laid out for photographing, placed at the top of the agency's report. Photo: State Committee for National Security, published by NIAT KhovarPhoto details
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Source: НИАТ «Ховар»Second security service handout photo, placed beside the passage on the 139 parcels found in the suspect's BYD car and the 41 parcels found nearby. Photo: State Committee for National Security, published by NIAT KhovarPhoto details
The reports give no separate date for the detentions, and Asia-Plus states the exact date is unknown, so 16 June 2025, when the security service announced the operation, is used.
The headline figure of almost 179 kg is the same rounded total as the 178 kg 845 g forensic figure, not a conflicting weight.
The 178 kg 845 g total includes 30 kg 333 g of opium, which is not a cannabis product, so only the 148 kg 129 g of hashish is recorded.
The 20,000 US dollars is the sum the courier is said to have paid Afghan smugglers, not an official valuation, so no value figure is recorded.
The five detainees are counted from the names in the reports: Abdulhak plus four accomplices.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in НИАТ «Ховар»: Tajikistan's security service and border troops detained five people over an attempt to smuggle a large consignment of Afghan drugs through the Panjob border outpost in Mir Said Ali Hamadoni district, Khatlon.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in НИАТ «Ховар»: According to the security service, Kosimzoda handed the money intended for the Afghan smugglers to Akbar, under a prior agreement with Abdulhak.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in Вечёрка: The security service said the fight against drug trafficking remained a strategic priority and urged the public to help officers identify such crimes.
The head of Tajikistan's Drug Control Agency said about 2,742 kg of narcotics were seized along the border with Afghanistan in 2025, and the authorities said trafficking from Afghanistan had risen by nearly half over 2024.
Tajik officers detained a suspected transnational-group courier in the Panjob border zone of Hamadoni district and seized drugs from the boot of his Opel car. Forensic tests put the cannabis part at 79.722 kg of hashish within a 90.557 kg mixed haul, and a criminal case was opened.
Police stopped three men transporting 16 kg of hashish and opium into Dushanbe and opened a case under part 4 of Article 200, the especially-large supply offence. The men were held in custody while police looked for their supply chain. The offence carries 12–20 years in prison.
The Drug Control Agency reported that law enforcement seized about 4.3 tonnes of drugs in 2024, 901 kg less than in 2023. Seizures of plant-based drugs fell by more than 900 kg, while psychotropic substances rose to 101 kg, 59% more than the year before. The agency said traffickers were shifting from cannabis and opium toward methamphetamine and other synthetics.