One of the largest drug trafficking routes in Central Asia passes from Afghanistan, the world's biggest opium producer, through Kyrgyzstan and then on to Russia and western Europe.
Kyrgyzstan's drug control agency said operatives had arrested a 42-year-old, known by the alias Zigzag, who is suspected of organizing a large drug trafficking network that specialized in smuggling hard drugs to Russia.
Operatives found about 40 kilograms (90lb) of opium-based drugs, including 18kg (40lb) of pure heroin during the arrest in the city of Osh. They also seized a 9-mm Makarov handgun, the agency said.
Kyrgyzstan's drug control chief Zhenish Zhakypov said July 20 that the impoverished country could be becoming a transit-country for narcotics because up to five metric tons a year cross its borders.
He said that despite a recent crackdown on drug trafficking, the illegal flow of heroin through the former Soviet republic - which borders on China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - had shown no signs of abating because of the republic's porous borders.
"In effect, this country has turned into a drug transit state," he said.
Kyrgyzstan's law enforcement agencies recorded 1,129 drug-related crimes and seized some 1,405kg (more than 3,000lb) of drugs in the first half of 2006, 10.6% and 9% more than in the same period of 2005, the drug control agency said.
