MOSCOW, October 4 (RIA Novosti) - Members of a radical Islamist political party that has been banned in Russia have been detained in the Moscow region on charges of drug-trafficking, a Federal Anti-Drug Service (FADS) official said Tuesday.

"Friday night FADS and FSB operatives detained two Tajik citizens, who have been involved in illicit heroin trade in Russia," said Vasily Rogozin, deputy head of the FADS investigation department.

The suspects have been identified as members of Hizb-ut-Tahrir, he said.

"During the search at the apartment where one of the detainees lived, operatives seized about 500 grams of high-grade heroine, pamphlets and extremist literature in Russian and Arabic," the officials said.

He said the detainees have been ordered to organize a drug-trafficking ring in Russia to finance Hizb-ut-Tahrir activities.

Rogozin said the authorities had been searching for other members of the criminal group and their accomplices in Russia, other CIS countries and abroad.