Post date: Jan 03, 2013 12:2:18 PM
Southern Kyrgyz city of Osh remains a major hub for Afghan drugs on their way to Russia and Europe.
OSH, KYRGYZSTAN (KYRGYZ DRUG CONTROL AGENCY) - The Kyrgyz city of Osh in the Ferghana valley is known as the "capital of the South". But it also bears another name that gives no reason for pride: Osh is also called the region's "drug capital".
The city is located on one of the major drugs trafficking routes from Afghanistan toRussia and Europe.Drugs, mostly heroin, are brought from Afghan labs to Tajikistan and then into Osh. From there it is shipped north, to the capital Bishkek, across the border to Kazakhstanand onto Russia.
Several factors contribute to Osh being the regional drug capital, one being its geographical location. Kyrgyzstan shares a long, poorly controlled border with Tajikistan, which mostly runs through mountainous terrain. Corruption and poverty were other factors, said Ruslan Altybayev, deputy head of mobile operational groups at the Kyrgyz Drug Control Agency. "Drug dealers and criminals involved in drug trafficking use it and get our citizens involved in drug trafficking and the drug business," said Altybayev.
The country of 5.5 million people is one of the poorest of the former Soviet republics and the Kyrgyz economy relies heavily on production from a single gold mine and cash sent home by migrant workers. It lacks the rich energy reserves of some of its neighbours such as Kazakhstan.
Poverty makes it easy for drug dealers to recruit drug couriers. It is believed that up to a quarter of the heroin produced in the world crosses through Central Asia.
Every year staff of the Drug Control Agency in Osh confiscate tons of drugs.
"In 2012 we confiscated over six tons of various drugs, including over 76kg of heroin, 51kg of hashish, over one ton of cannabis and over five tons of drug precursors," saidToktomamat Mamashev, department head at the Kyrgyz Drug Control Agency.
The Kyrgyz Drug Control Agency was disbanded in 2009 by then President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and re-established a year later, after the overthrow of Bakiyev by the country's new leader Roza Otunbayeva.
UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) pays special attention to Central Asia and one of its first projects in the region, the so-called Osh Knot, is aimed at the strengthening of drug control agencies and cross-border cooperation between the three countries - Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in the areas where they have a common border. Last year UNODC announced its decision to grant Kyrgyzstan almost $3,5 million to fight drug trafficking.
Easy access to drugs has taken its toll on the Osh population. The number of drug addicts has been steadily rising over the past years.
Osh resident Dildor tried to stop taking drugs several times. But he was lured back into his addiction partly by an easy access to drugs. "There is always a desire to stop it, to get out of it, I've tried to stop three or four times. I even went to Russia. But when you come back - even on the way back you think, you know that once you get back you will go to a drug dealer. Even before you get home, you go to a drug dealer, get this poison, get home and take it. And you start again," Dildor said.
According to the data from the regional narcology centre, there were 530 registered drug addicts in the Osh region and 1400 in the city in 2012. But according to the centre's chiefAidul Sadiyeva, the real numbers are much higher: "We multiply these official figures by ten and then we get an approximate number of drug addicts."
Osh was the scene of ethnic tension in the summer of 2010 which left hundreds dead and thousands displaced.
It is believed that corrupt officials and the drug mafia played a role in inciting violence.