TAJIK AUTHORITIES CONFISCATE 21 TONS OF DRUGS OVER THE LAST DECADE








DYUSHAMBE, MARCH 1, 2001, /RIA-NOVOSTI CORRESPONDENT NAZHMIDIN AZIZOV/ -- Illicit drug trafficking on Tajik territory is now turning into a rather serious national-security threat. This was disclosed here today by President Emomali Rakhmonov of Tajikistan during a session of the republican Security Council.


	The Tajik presidential drug-control agency reported today that republican law-enforcement officers had confiscated 21 tons of drugs over the last decade. March 1 is the official worldwide anti-drug day.


	The national situation continues to deteriorate with every passing year. 2,500 kg of drugs were confiscated over the entire 1999 period; however, nearly 7,150 kg of drugs were confiscated all over Tajikistan by its law-enforcement agencies and the Russian Frontier Service's border-control force.


	Mass-media bodies are saying with good reason that the international community might well impose sanctions on Tajikistan, if the volume of illicit drug trafficking continues to increase.