Hang-gliding heroin smuggler shot down

Border guards shot down a hang-glider transporting 18 kilograms of heroin today as it entered Tajikistan from neighbouring Afghanistan.

Border protection official Saidamir Zukhurov said smugglers used the hang-glider to move drugs across the Tajik border for three years, and previous attempts to bring it down had been unsuccessful.

The hang-glider’s pilot managed to escape after it hit the ground, he said.

Yesterday, Tajik border guards exchanged gunfire with a group of drug traffickers, forcing them to flee back into Afghanistan.

They left behind sacks containing 20 kilograms of heroin and 20 kilograms of cannabis, Zukhurov said.

One of the smugglers may have been wounded in the gun battle, he said. No injuries were sustained among the border guards.

Tajikistan is a major route for narcotics from Afghanistan destined for European markets.

Afghanistan’s illegal opium and heroin trade has ballooned to account for nearly 90% of the world’s supply.