Pubdate: 15 Jan 1999 Source: Reuters Copyright: 1999 Reuters Limited. Author: Sergei Yakovlev TAJIK LEADER SAYS AFGHAN DRUGS ARE A MAJOR THREAT DUSHANBE, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov said on Friday increasing quantities of drugs flooding into the ex- Soviet republic from neighbouring Afghanistan represented a social and security threat. "A danger has arisen for the young Tajik government and if it is not eliminated it will cancel out the progress we have made," he said at the opening of an international drugs conference in the capital, Dushanbe. The impoverished Central Asian state of 5.7 million people, which is fast becoming a major transit route mainly for opium and heroin from the south, was increasingly turning into a consumer. "The number of people taking drugs in Tajikistan is rising," Rakhmonov said. "This trend has taken on such a character that if serious measures are not taken today, then tomorrow it will be too late." Tajikistan faces a growing drugs problem as people look to escape the harsh economic conditions that five years of civil war have brought on the mountainous republic. The war, which ended in mid-1997, claimed tens of thousands of lives and left the economy in ruins. Drug trafficking has also become a major cause of crime, with lucrative returns encouraging often armed Afghans and Tajiks to cross borders illegally and take incredible risks. Tajikistan's southern flank is patrolled by Tajik and Russian troops to secure the border against intrusions by troops from Afghanistan and to stem the flow of drugs. Rakhmonov said security forces throughout the republic had not done enough to fight the problem. He said around one tonne of drugs crossed into Tajikistan from Afghanistan every day and that he had information which showed that up to 2,000 tonnes were stored close to the border for transportation. "At the same time, there are also cases when some members of this force (Russian border guards) participate directly in the trafficking of drugs from Afghanistan to Tajikistan," said Rakhmonov. International aid was needed to help in the struggle against drugs, the president said, adding that it was a problem not only for Tajikistan but for countries where the drugs reached the street. Bogdan Lisovich, head of the United Nation's Central Asian drug control programme, said narcotics production was on the rise in Afghanistan. He said 2,800 tonnes of raw opium were produced there last year, from which 280 tonnes of pure heroin could be refined with a street value of $81 billion in Europe. Around 70 tonnes of heroin were transported across the five Central Asian states last year, the majority of which crossed Tajikistan, Lisovich added. Only a small proportion of drugs trafficked into Tajikistan is discovered. - --- MAP posted-by: Mike Gogulski