DUSHANBE. March 19 (Interfax-AVN) - A train attendant who tried to bring 45 kilos of heroin into Russia from Tajikistan has been detained at a Dushanbe railway station, the Tajik Interior Ministry reported on Wednesday.
"A resident of Dushanbe, who works as a train attendant on a train running between Dushanbe and Moscow, used his position to hide the drugs in the train. The owner of the heroin has been detained and has given evidence indicating that he intended to pass the drugs to his accomplices in Russia," the ministry said.
Russian law enforcement agencies have already been contacted for the purpose of detaining the other people related to this crime, the ministry said.
According to earlier reports, some 1,000 kilos of heroin was seized in Tajikistan in January-February 2008, which is 11.1% more than the amount seized in January-February 2007.
Tajikistan is a major transit point used by Afghan drug traffickers to take drugs to Russia and Western Europe. According to the UN, 19% of drugs sent from Afghanistan are transported through Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, but the majority of the drugs are carried through Iran and Pakistan.
The Tajik-Afghan border is 1,344 km long.