DUSHANBE. Nov 23 (Interfax-AVN) -- Roberto Arbitrio, regional representative of the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP), and experts of donor countries of the UN Drug Control Program involving Austria, Italy, the United States, France and Germany flew to the Tajik-Afghan border on Friday, a spokesman for the Russian border guard group in Tajikistan said.
The experts will visit strongpoints and checkpoints of the Panj and Moscow border guard detachments and study the border control system.
An accord on the experts's visit was reached at the meeting between Arbitrio, the experts and border guard group commander Lieutenant General Alexander Markin.
During the meeting Markin briefed the experts on peculiarities of service and combat activities in the sphere of combating illegal drug turnover on the border.
The Russian group is protecting the 1,417km strap of the Tajik-Afghan border. According to the Federal Border Guard Service, the volume of illegal drug turnover on the strap makes 90 percent of the total amount of drugs smuggled to Russia. Last year, the group prevented the smuggling of 3,130kg of drugs including 804kg of heroin, while this year the amount of seized drugs has reached 5,300kg, including 2,300kf of heroin.
The Russian group has lost over 150 servicemen KIA and some 350 WIA during its eight-year stay on the Tajik-Afghan border.