BISHKEK. Kyrgyzstan said today it will set up a special anti-narcotics agency to fight drugs coming out of Afghanistan.
The chairman of Kyrgyzstan's committee for narcotics control, General Kurmanbek Kubatbekov, said the new agency will allow Kyrgyzstan to effectively combat the transit of drugs through the country.
Kubatbekov said the agency will be directly accountable to President Askar Akayev.
The new agency will be established with the help of the United Nations and international donors who have allotted about six million dollars for the agency.
Kubatbekov said law enforcement agencies in his country estimate that 35 tons of illegal narcotics transit Kyrgyz territory every year, one percent of which is intercepted. Kubatbekov also said that there are as many as 100,000 drug addicts in Kyrgyzstan, a country of about 5 million people.
The chairman of Kyrgyzstan's committee for narcotics control, General Kurmanbek Kubatbekov, said the new agency will allow Kyrgyzstan to effectively combat the transit of drugs through the country.
Kubatbekov said the agency will be directly accountable to President Askar Akayev.
The new agency will be established with the help of the United Nations and international donors who have allotted about six million dollars for the agency.
Kubatbekov said law enforcement agencies in his country estimate that 35 tons of illegal narcotics transit Kyrgyz territory every year, one percent of which is intercepted. Kubatbekov also said that there are as many as 100,000 drug addicts in Kyrgyzstan, a country of about 5 million people.