Russian, Tajik interior ministries to conduct operations against drug trafficking

Interior Ministries of Russia and Tajikistan will conduct a series of joint operations to combat drug trafficking, Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev told reporters on Tuesday after a meeting of the joint board of the two countries’ law enforcement agencies. He noted that the meeting had analyzed the results of the joint work to shut down the supply of drugs. “Serious work is being done in this regard and certain results have been achieved,” Kolokoltsev said. According to him, over 100 thousand people are detained annually in Russia for crimes related to drug trafficking, dozens of tons of illegal substances are confiscated. “In the first half of this year alone, nearly 60 thousand people involved in drug trafficking have been found and more than 14.5 tonnes of drugs have been seized,” Kolokoltsev said. According to him, the main task of the law enforcement bodies of Russia and Tajikistan is not only the detention of drug couriers and traffickers, but also the exposure of the whole drug trafficking chain. Russia's Interior Minister stressed that cooperation between law enforcement officers of the two countries has reduced the number of crimes committed by Tajikistani citizens in Russia. “The total number of reported crimes in the period from 2009 to 2012 fell by more than 40%, the number of drug-related crimes committed by them (Tajikistani citizens) fell by more than one quarter. This dynamic persists,” Kolokoltsev said. Tajikistan's Interior Minister Ramadan Rakhimov noted for his part that at present the bulk of drugs are smuggled by rail. In this connection, he said, he had given instructions to take additional supervisory measures.