Unemployed man held with 35.5 kg of cannabis in Shuroobod, Tajikistan
Police in Tajikistan's Shuroobod district, on the Afghan border, detained a 32-year-old unemployed man on 31 December 2011 and seized 8.5 kilograms of cannabis from him and 27 kilograms more at his home. The Interior Ministry said he had bought the cannabis from two local residents, one a forester at the Dashti-Jum forestry enterprise.
Tajik police detained a 32-year-old unemployed man in Shuroobod district, on the
border with Afghanistan, on 31 December 2011.[1]A search of his person found
8.5 kilograms of cannabis, and a search of his home found a further 27
kilograms.[1]The interior ministry said the operation by police from the
Shouroobod district station led to the seizure of more than 35 kilograms of
hemp.[2]
The detained man told investigators he had bought the cannabis from two local
residents, one of them a forester at the Dashti-Jum forestry enterprise.[1]The accounts name no charges, say whether the two sellers were detained, or give
a court outcome.[1]The same Interior Ministry briefing reported a separate
case days earlier, in which the conductor of the Dushanbe-Moscow passenger train
was held with about 5 kilograms of heroin in his luggage.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Asia-Plusasiaplus.newsOver 35 kilos of narcotics seized in Shouroobod in one operation on Dec 31
Open questions the AI reported
The 35.5 kilograms are reported as "drugs" in the headline, "hemp" in the English account and "cannabis" in the Russian text, which does not say whether the material was dried flower or plants.
No charges were specified and no figure for the value of the cannabis was published.
The two local residents said to have sold the cannabis, including the Dashti-Jum forester, are not reported as detained or charged.
The Interior Ministry statement reached the public through Asia-Plus only; the ministry's own page and any independent outlet account could not be found.
The English Asia-Plus version gives the same detention and weights, and states that the 2011 nationwide total included some 1,532 kilograms of cannabis; the Russian story gives only the overall 1.9-tonne figure and describes the remainder as cannabis-group drugs.
Shuroobod district was renamed Shamsiddin Shohin in 2016; the report uses the name the source gave.
The Russian account says officers examined the detained man's dwelling (жилой дом); the report records a home search.
Tajikistan's Interior Ministry detained nine suspected members of a drug group and seized 24 kg of hashish from a cache in Matchinsky district. The ministry says the Afghan-sourced hashish was meant for onward smuggling abroad and alleges the group moved about 550-600 kg since 2025.
Police in Tajikistan's Asht district detained four people from an alleged transnational group and seized 6.5 kg of hashish. Investigators allege the drugs came from Afghanistan for transit abroad; the detainees remain in pretrial detention while the investigation continues.
Tajik authorities detained seven suspected members of two transnational groups accused of moving Afghan hashish, opium and methamphetamine through Dushanbe and Rasht district for domestic sale and export. The cannabis component is established as hashish in mixed parcels and packets, but only combined drug totals were published, so no cannabis-only weight is recorded.
Tajikistan's Drug Control Agency detained a 21-year-old man in Bokhtar, Khatlon Region, as he met a buyer for 29 kg 560 g of hashish he had brought from the border area of the Jayhun district. A criminal case was opened under the article on drug trafficking in especially large amounts, and officers investigated.
