Uzbek customs agencies have seized 40 kg of opium in [southern] Surxondaryo Region, close to the Afghan border.

Uzbek State Customs Committee said on 14 June that the drugs had been confiscated from an Afghan citizen whom customs officers caught carrying two sacks that contained four packs of opium, weighing 40 kg in total.

The [customs] source told the agency that "a preliminary investigation has established that the citizen of the neighbouring country violated the border by crossing the frontier River Amu Darya using an inflatable tyre".

"The detainee admitted he had crossed into Uzbekistan to sell the drugs," the source said.

Criminal proceedings have been launched and an investigation is under way.