Kazakhstan gets up to 10 percent of transit drugs

The profound analytical work and cooperation between law enforcement bodies and experts from international organizations dealing with this problem are required to combat the Afghan drug trafficking, deputy chairman of the Kazakh National Security Committee Gosman Amrin said today.

"Kazakhstan's strategic and geographic location between Europe and Asia, active development of transportation infrastructure, transparency of borders with the majority of CIS border countries attract drug cartels that supply drugs from Afghanistan to Russia and Europe," he said at the first meeting of the Interagency Staff coordinating the activity of state bodies to combat drug abuse and drug trafficking.

According to the various estimates, Kazakhstan gets up to 10 percent of transit drugs. According to the official data, the drug situation remains tense in Kazakhstan despite the fact a downward trend in drug use and the flow of contraband has been recently observed.

The number of registered drug users has declined by 8.6 percent (from 54,669 to 46,766) for the last three years, including minors - by almost 34 per cent (from 3,939 to 2,613).

According to the Health Ministry, about 20,485 drug addicts have been registered for the first quarter.