Five Uzbek nationals have been sentenced to 15 years in prison for smuggling large quantities of narcotics from Tajikistan into Uzbekistan.

According to Uzbekistan’s State Security Service, the arrests took place in August last year during a special joint operation conducted in the Uzun district of the Surkhandarya region, in cooperation with internal affairs officers, The Caspian Post reports via Uzbek media.

During the operation, two local residents, 20 and 21, were detained after illegally crossing the state border and transporting 20.37 kilograms of opium and 41.67 kilograms of hashish into Uzbekistan from Tajikistan. Investigators later apprehended two additional accomplices, 22 and 26, as well as the organizer of the drug shipment - a 26-year-old-resident of Denau.

The Uzun District Criminal Court found all five defendants guilty under several articles of Uzbekistan’s Criminal Code, including illegal border crossing, smuggling, and the unlawful manufacture, acquisition, storage, and trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances with intent to sell.