Drug enforcement officers in Uzbekistan have burned 1.4 tons of drugs, as Central Asia's most populous nation attempts to curb the flow of narcotics from neighboring Afghanistan.
The drugs included more than 130 kilograms of heroin and 775 kilograms of opium and were incinerated on June 25 in a furnace at a metallurgical plant outside the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, before an audience of diplomats, workers from international organizations, and reporters.
The narcotics had already been used as evidence against drugs traffickers at their trials, according to Uzbek officials.
Afghan heroin smuggled into Tajikistan flows via Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to end up in Russia or Europe.