Tajikistan has arrested several high-ranking antidrug officials for their alleged involvement in narcotics trafficking.
Among them is Faridun Umarov, the head of the antidrug department in the southern Farkhor district, which borders Afghanistan.
Umarov is the brother of the first deputy head of the State Committee for National Security, Mansur Umarov.
Also arrested were the chief of the Interior Ministry's antinarcotics department and a colonel overseeing the antidrug unit of the Dushanbe city's interior affairs department.
Umarov was the leader of the "organized crime group," which allegedly involved several other officers from antidrug departments and security services in the southern Khatlon province.
Khatlon is a major drug route for narcotics coming from Afghanistan.
An unnamed official told RFE/RL that arrests were made earlier this month.
With agency reports