Law enforcement officers in Tajikistan seized almost 170 kilograms of drugs in two raids in the early hours of Thursday, an Interior Ministry spokesman told RIA Novosti.

Makhmadullo Asadullayev said special drug enforcement officers found 43 kilograms of hashish and two grenades in the possession of a 22-year-old man near Tajikistan's border with Afghanistan, 230 kilometers (140 miles) south of the capital, Dushanbe.

Also before dawn on Thursday, drug police found 125 kilograms of raw opium in a Kamaz truck 60 kilometers (37 miles) west of Dushanbe. The 44-year-old driver was arrested.

"Since the start of the year, Interior Ministry officers have seized more than 300 kilograms of narcotics," Asadullayev said.

The former Soviet Central Asian states are major transit routes for drugs from Afghanistan destined for Russia and Europe. An estimated 90% of heroin consumed in Russia is trafficked from Afghanistan via Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

DUSHANBE, January 7 (RIA Novosti)