Russian border guards seized more than 292 kilograms of heroin and opium on the Tajik-Afghan border, Russian Interfax news agency reported Monday.

The news agency quoted the border guards' press service as saying some 134.8 kilograms of heroin were seized from four armed smugglers attempting illegally to cross Pyandzh River from Afghanistan to Tajikistan on Sunday.

The smugglers opened fire at border guards when they were detected and ordered to surrender, the press service said.

The guards detained one of them while three others fled back to Afghanistan.

Three sacks containing 134.8 kilograms of heroin were discovered on the spot.

On the same day, Russian border guards also seized 157.8 kilograms of drugs, including 25.8 kilograms of heroin and 132 kilograms of raw opium in another section of Tajik-Afghan border, according to the press service.

Russia is a major transit country for Afghan opium and heroin flowing from Central Asia to western Europe. Most of the drugs produced in Afghanistan were smuggled into Russia and western Europe via Tajikistan.

Russia keeps thousands of border guards and other troops in Tajikistan under a 1992 agreement signed by Moscow and Dushanbe tostem the flows of drugs and weapons from Afghanistan.

Source: Xinhua