Wednesday, June 06, 2012 -
Tajikistan’s anti-drugs agency said Tuesday its officers discovered and destroyed around 400,000 cannabis bushes in the northern Sughd province.
Many of the bushes were growing in the state-managed botanical garden of Khujand city, the provincial capital.
The Interior Ministry’s Drug Control Unit in Sughd said its officers found 325,000 cannabis bushes of the Indian variety in the botanical garden, at Navruzgoh park, and within the city’s water pump station facility No 2.
They discovered another 10,000 Indian cannabis bushes at a farm in the village of Piskokat Dekhkan, located in the mountainous far northern Asht region close to the border with Uzbekistan.
A further 4,100 bushes were found in Zarnisor Jamoat village in Bobojongafurov region, according to the report, cited by the Asia-Plus news agency.
Interior Ministry anti-narcotics officers also seized 320 pounds of drugs in raids around Sughd province begun on May 20. The operation so far has resulted in criminal charges being laid against 98 people for trafficking or illegal use of drugs.
The Interior Ministry is just two weeks into its Mak-2012 (Poppy-2012) special operation that will continue to the end of November.