Fight Against Drug Trafficking Priority for Kazakhstan - Interior Ministry

The fight against drug trafficking from Afghanistan via is among priority directions of work for the Kazakh Interior Ministry, Sultan Kusetov, the head of the ministry's department of fight against drug trade, said.

ASTANA (Sputnik) — On Friday, Astana hosts the seventh meeting of chiefs of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) competent bodies, which are in charge of fight against drug trafficking.

"Supplies from Afghanistan remain the key factor affecting the drug situation in Kazakhstan, that is why curbing the transit channels of Afghan heroin through our country is a key direction of work. It is worth mentioning that Kazakhstan has taken a number of unprecedented measures to equip southern borders with modern scanning equipment, protection and control systems at border checkpoints but also along its perimeter," Kusetov said at the meeting.

According to Kusetov, the new security measures have led to the "decrease in heroin amount in Kazakhstan and its increase in prices."

An international anti-drug event will take place on April 19 at Kazakhstan's initiative within Astana's chairmanship in the SCO, Kusetov added.