The Interior Ministry told Asia-Plus that officers detained 45-year-old A.I., a resident of Khatlon’s administrative centre, on the Sarband-Kurgan-Tyube road on Tuesday, 10 May 2011.[1] During a personal search, officers found and seized a packet containing a dark plasticine-like substance with a distinctive smell.[1] A criminal case was opened over the seizure and an investigation was under way.[1]

An expert examination identified the seized substance as hashish weighing 5 kg 284 grams.[1] The account described the seizure as a large consignment of Afghan hashish recovered in southern Tajikistan.[1] The account cited UN drug-and-crime experts as forecasting increased output of cannabis-group drugs in Afghanistan, which it said produces 90% of all drugs, above all Afghan hashish.[1] Tajik anti-drug officials said smuggling of that drug would therefore grow along all routes, including the northern route for which Tajikistan is one of the transit countries.[1]

First-quarter statistics cited in the same account said 1 tonne 210 kg of almost 1.5 tonnes seized by Tajik agencies were cannabis-group drugs, namely hashish and marijuana.[1]