01.00.00

Snow covered mountain

Fade music under VO

Reporter:  Dominique Schwartz

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It's known as the Switzerland of Central

Asia.  Kyrgyzstan.

Small, mountainous and with a policy of neutrality.

Clapped out van driving through frame

But this young nation is now drawing the battle lines.

And the enemy is drugs.

This is what's known as the roof of the world:  The Pamir Mountains, with peaks soaring to more than seven-thousand metres.  The terrain here is as brutal as it is breathtaking. During winter temperatures plunge to minus forty degrees celsius and snow covers all mountain passes bar this one - the route the locals call the Road of Life.  Nowadays, it's more like the road of death - the new opium smuggling route feeding the global market

01.30

poppy fields (CUs of pretty flowers, and some pics of fields with Muj with AKs walking around)

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Only 700 kilometres to the south of Kyrgyzstan, lie the poppy fields of the Golden Crescent - Pakistan, Iran and the largest producer, Afghanistan.

More than three thousand tonnes of opium is grown here - half of the entire world supply.

Before 1991, most narcotics from the Golden Crescent travelled to Europe along the various branches of the Balkan route.

Since the lifting of the Iron Curtain, however, much of this traffic has been rerouted through the newly independent and chaotic states of Central Asia.

02.16

Cars arriving at UN conference, people going inside.  NATSOT

This region has now become a top priority of the United Nations Drug Control Programme, the UNDCP

Giacomelli address - first part overlaid with WS of Giacomelli addressing conference then into CU him talking

GIACOMELLI ADDRESS

It is no coincidence that the Central

Asian sub-region has evolved into a major transit point and storage area for illicit opium, heroin and hashish.

02.39

continue vision of Giacomelli

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UNDCP chief Giorgio Giacomelli recently drew together the five foreign ministers of Central Asia - all of whom pledged to join forces in their anti-drugs campaign.

But, with the UN providing only four million dollars over three years, everyone knows it's a tough task ahead

Giacomelli interview

Ths silk road is gradually becoming the heroin road

Giacomelli interview - in vision

I believe things will have to go worse before they start going better, but if they can start to go better if we are not discouraged and indeed continue in this effort to have a more concerted, coherent and compatible action.

Russian delegation; shots of Sergeev in CU

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The concern is not only that Central Asia has become a transit route for narcotics, but that the region itself is being corrupted.

Both addiction and drug-related crime are rising rapidly.

It's also a problem in neighbouring Russia - and one that Drug Control Chief, General Alexander Sergeev is keeping a close eye on.

03.42

Sergeev interview

SERGEEV INTERVIEW

In 1991, we were investigating around 25-30,000 drug-related crimes.  Last year it was around 80,000.

Russian criminal structures have always been connected into Central Asia.  They now have a solid base there.  That's why drug-related organised crime is getting more serious every day.

Khorog to Osh road

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One of the most popular new drug corridors is the Khorog to Osh road.

It runs from war-wracked Tajikistan, up over the mountains and into Kyrgyzstan from where narcotics are channelled into Russia and Europe.

Dom in van going through checkpoint. 

NATSOT MUSIC

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Once an offshoot of the ancient Silk Route, today this is still the major thoroughfare over the Pamir Mountains.

We joined the road just after it crosses into Kyrgyzstan.

Between here and Osh, there are six checkpoints.

WS of line of trucks at border.

NATSOT - rattle and ech of drums being searched.

Closer shots of vehicle checks

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At this post, officers search as many as two hundred vehicles a day.

Most are trucks returning to Osh after delivering humanitarian aid supplies to neighbouring Tajikstan - now in its fourth year of civil war.

Captain Kamal Abdurakhmanov - Narcotics Border Inspector (Interior Ministry of Kyrgyzstan)

overseeing searching

NATSOT - subtitles

Have you been on this road before?

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So far today, Captain Abdurakhmanov and his agents have not uncovered any opium - but on average, once every 10 days, they do.

05.57

Abdurakhmanov interview

ABDURAKHMANOV INTERVIEW

Drivers of these trucks normally try to hide the drugs in the back of the truck, inside tyres, the air filter; under the cabin, inside the engine.  They also try to hide the drugs inside the petrol tanks.

More checks; truck driving through the checkpoint after being searched.

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Kyrgyz authorities believe 100 kilograms of opium travels along this route every day.

But only one quarter is ever intercepted.

Apart from determination, there are few resources at the authorities' disposal.

Mameev interview

SUPER:  Maj. Gen. Askarbek

Mameev

Kyrgyz Drug Control Commission

MAMEEV INTERVIEW

The only resource we have at the moment are trained dogs.  However, because of the high altitude - 3000 to 4000 metres above sea level - after three searches the dogs are tired and can no longer work.  Also, because the dogs have to sniff the drugs, they're also becoming drug addicts and they just can't work for a very long time.

Mountain village Gvs.  People, animals etc.  W/s of mountains and then reveal of small village

Village shots

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Kyrgyzstan is one of the most mountainous countries on earth.

Only the hardy live here - mostly shepherds and their families - people so poor that drug running could appear a tempting alternative.

Unable to police this isolated region alone, the Kyrgyz Government has handed control of its frontier to Russian border forces.

Their zone begins just beyond this village and stretches for 70 kilometers to the Tajik border.

We were not allowed to travel there.  The Russians guard their territory jealously.  Perhaps too much so.

It's been alleged that Russian forces in the region are actively involved in drug smuggling.

07.49

Mameev interview

MAMEEV INTERVIEW

The Tajiks provided concrete evidence of border guards trafficking drugs to Moscow.  The guards ignored local police and customs when they were flying out of Tajikstan.  They said, "we're border guards, we're untouchable".

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Russian General, Alexander Sergeev acknowledges there is military involvement in the drug smuggling.

SERGEEV INTERVIEW

There are traitors in the Border Guards and these people are committing a crime.  We are really concerned and we are very worried about this trend.  We are trying to fight this crime and punish the offenders.  However, it is quite a rare crime.

08.39

Two drug traffickers walk into

room

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Of course, it's not just the miltary and international syndicates which are involved.  The drug trade is carried on the backs of the poor and the desperate.

People like Azarabek and Awazbek, who are now facing 15 years in jail.

Police dragging opium into room

NATSOT

Continue opium pics

Their crime was to haul this opium - 129 kilograms - across treacherous mountain passes from Tajisktan to Kyrgyzstan.

Originally, there were eight in their party.  Two turned back because of snow blindness.  The other four escaped police capture.