The army of drug-smugglers
Here is a translation of Khurshed’s article from russian-tajik blog.
In the beginning of June the information agencies reported on detainment of former warlords of United Tajik Opposition Fahrulloi Fahriddin with a big batch of heroin in the outskirts of Dushanbe. He is more known as Eshoni Daroz. It its well known that the radical Islamists are frequently involved in drug-smuggling, just to remember the Taliban who made the cultivation, processing and exporting of narcotics a strategic sector of economy in Afghanistan.
It is worth mentioning that after the reconciliation according to the signed agreement between the government and opposition the brigade Eshoni Daroz merged with law enforcement bodies. At the time he was arrested he was the head of the department of illegal drugs control in the districts of republican subordination, reported “Regnum”.
It did not really attract public attention because it is a regular thing to detain a “werewolf with epaulettes” “оборотень в погонах” (term composed by Russian mass-media to describe representatives of law enforcement bodies involved in crime) in Tajikistan but here occurs a question – how long it will endure? If the number of “werewolves” continues increasing at such a fast pace, very soon we are going to have a big “hell army”. According to my observations Fahriddin is the forth high official from law enforcement bodies who was detained for drug-smuggling since the beginning of this year.
On 1st of June at Tajik-Afghan border was killed an officer of Tajik border-guard unit Muhabatov. AsiaPlus reported that the officer was killed by Afghan citizens who shot him in the leg and later after a short conversation shot him dead. Muhabbatov owed to the people who killed him 200 kilos of heroin and never returned the money. In the beginning of February in Murgab was detained another representative of law enforcement bodies with more than one kilo of heroin. His name was not made public. The same month another officer was detained with 53 kilos of heroin in his car.
In 2006 581 crime cases related to drug-smuggling were registered, and in most of the cases the representatives of law enforcement bodies were involved, reported the Attorney-general during his press-conference last year.
Each year more that 5 tons of narcotics are seized in Tajikistan, mostly heroin. Here stands a question – what is the real amount of narcotics which is not exempted thanks to the shelter of “werewolves with epaulettes”?
on June 15th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Of tangential interest, there have been projects/initiatives in Russia and to introduce Methadone clinics (heroin addicts get a dose of Methadone each day at a special clinic as a legal and regulated substitute for Heroin). Those initiatives have been strongly criticized and even stopped due to efforts in the Russian medical, scientific and political leadership. The hunger for heroin in the US, Europe (east and west), Russia and Central Asia feeds crime and corruption in Tajikistan and neighboring republics. And we, in the west, are guilty as charged.
on June 15th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
come on, drug smuggling by the military has always been known to everyone. how do you think those generals got so rich? but i’m glad that people are now talking about it more publicly instead of in the safety of thier homes. but how can you blame these lower ranking officers for drug smuggling; it’s either drug trafficking or starvation. i probably would have done the same thing in their place. you gotta do what you gotta do. plus tajiks aren’t rich enough to buy any of that shit so it goes straight to our friends in russia.
one more philosophical point, drug traffickers don’t force anybody to buy the drugs. i mean cigs kill people (way more than heroin) but it’s totally legal.