QURGHONTEPPA, Tajikistan -- Tajikistan's Presidential Anti-Narcotics Agency has arrested a high-ranking officer on charges he was involved in illegal drug trafficking.
The chief of the agency's department in Khatlon Province, Saidmurod Khudoyberdiev, told RFE/RL's Tajik Service that the officer, who was serving in a border-guard unit on the Tajik-Afghan border, is suspected of organizing "safe corridors" for Afghan drug smugglers.
His name was not released.
Police say he was carrying eight kilograms of heroin when he was arrested.
The officer is the second to be arrested on drug-related felony charges in the last two years.
According to the Anti-Narcotics Agency, 50 drug-related crimes have been investigated and 350 kilograms of drugs confiscated from traffickers in Khatlon already this year.