KOSTANAI (Kazakhstan), July 1 (RIA Novosti) - The illicit drug transit from Afghanistan is set to increase soon, Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev said at a bilateral border cooperation conference here.
"The situation will aggravate in that direction soon and we should expect an inflow of drugs from Afghanistan, which will threaten not only the Central Asian region, but the whole world," Nurgaliyev said.
According to the Russian Interior Ministry, special operations in Kazakh-Russian border regions between January and May resulted in the confiscation of more than 9,000 firearms, some 15 kilograms of explosives, 31 explosive devices, 120 kg of heroin, some 800 kg of raw opium and some 300 kg of hashish and marijuana.
Five drug couriers and 33,000 administrative offenses were uncovered in the first quarter of 2005 and 125 people suspected or accused of committing crimes in Russia were detained.
The UN said Afghanistan's production accounts for more than 75% of the illegal production of opium in the world fell. According to UN data, in 2004, 4,200 tons of opium was produced in Afghanistan. Russia's Drug Control Service predicts that by the end of this year, some 5,000 tons of opium will have been produced in Afghanistan.
Illicit drugs arrive in Central Asia and the CIS via the Tajik-Afghan border and continue on to Europe later.
