Kazakhstan confiscates two tonnes of drugs

t('articles.tweet')

* denotes required field.

• Your name *
• Email to *
• Comments *
• CAPTCHA *

Reset

ASTANA — Since the beginning of the year, Kazakh special services have seized more than two tonnes of drugs and smashed 25 drug rings and 50 drug trafficking routes.

Operation Safari Transit was the biggest counternarcotics operation carried out this year. It led to the capture of members of a Nigerian drug mafia that transported heroin from Afghanistan to China via Kazakhstan. Ghanaians, Uzbeks, Indians and Kazakhs worked as drug mules for the gang.

“The operation was unique,” said German Didenko, head of the Department for the Fight against the International Trade in Drugs, attached to the National Security Committee (NSC). He did not reveal all the details, but said that it took several months to complete. An NSC officer had to infiltrate the criminal network, whose mules transported drugs inside their stomachs. “The drug dealers were arrested in Guangzhou, China. The undercover NSC officer gave them drugs, and all our Chinese partners had to do was handcuff the dealers,” Didenko said.

So far this year, the NSC has carried out 11 joint operations with the special services of China, Russia and other Central Asian countries. During operations Pyramid and Temir Tor, which led to the closure of drug supply routes out of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, more than 20 leaders and active members of criminal gangs were arrested. Weapons, foreign currency and jewellery were also seized along with narcotics.

The UN estimates that on average, 15 percent of all drugs produced in Afghanistan pass through Central Asian countries that are unable to stop the flow unaided. Experts say the region needs financial and technical assistance. Its borders need modern drug detection equipment and the launch of public anti-drug campaigns to contribute to reducing the flow of narcotics across their territories.