River is a drug smuggler's dream: Tajik border a sieve for Afghan heroin; Russia pays the price.

From: Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL) | Date: October 9, 2006 | Copyright information

Byline: Alex Rodriguez

Oct. 9--PANJ, Tajikistan -- The smugglers almost always come in the dead of night, in small bands clutching packages of Afghan heroin and Kalashnikov rifles. On tires lashed together or on makeshift wooden rafts, they cross the meandering Panj River that separates Afghanistan and Tajikistan, slip through minefields and navigate the tall reeds and footpaths on the Tajik side of the Panj. Most of the time, they make it through unscathed. From...

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