Tajik Army Clashes With Afghan Drug Runners

18 August 2005 -- The Tajik antidrug agency says Tajik soldiers seized over 80 kilograms of heroin today after an exchange of gunfire with three Afghan traffickers.

AFP quotes agency spokesman Avaz Yuldashev saying the three Afghans were crossing the Pyandzh River on the border when Tajik troops surprised them. After an exchange of gunfire, the Afghans abandoned the drugs and fled.

Tajikistan is a key trafficking route for drugs produced in Afghanistan and bound for Western markets.

(AFP)