Correspondents of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan” report that a special operation is being carried out by law enforcement officers in Ashgabat and its suburbs to combat drug trafficking from Iran.
As of today, some 30 individuals have been detained, including five in the village of Bagir and 13 – in Geokdepe.
Others have been detained in the capital. Among them are law enforcement officers, including a police сhief and the head of the road traffic supervision authority in one of the etraps. Television staff, popular singers and musicians as well as government officials have been detained either as drug dealers or users.
The investigation team believes that the settlement of Artyk is the main receiving point for drugs on the Turkmen side.A cache has been located in a cemetery near Ashgabat where 25 kilos of drugs were stored.
According to the investigating officers, about 300 kilos of drugs have recently been delivered to Turkmenistan.The bulk of the batch has yet not been identified.
In May 2021 President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov signed a decree to pardon 982 Turkmen nationals and 53 foreign nationals in honour of Laylat al-Qadr, the Night of Destiny. Turkmenistan handed over to Iran three inmates, convicted for drug trafficking.
In October 2021 Kyrgyzstan’s’ Interior Ministry reported the detention of an Uzbek national who had smuggled a large batch of methamphetamine through borders of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
Campaigns to burn confiscated drugs and smuggled cigarettes are regularly held in Turkmenistan.In December 2020 President Berdymukhammedov opened a new facility for the disposal of drugs.
It is interesting to note that law enforcement authorities do not publish any statistics on drug-related crimes.The post Some 30 individuals detained during operation to combat drug trafficking from Iran first appeared on Chronicles of Turkmenistan.