Kyrgyz police detained a drug runner from neighboring Tajikistan with a large consignment of Afghan opium, Kyrgyzstan’s Interior Ministry said on Friday, March 22, according to RIA Novosti.

Twelve kilograms of opium were seized from the Tajik national, 38, and a further 19 kilograms were later recovered as part of the operation, the ministry said in a statement.

Kyrgyz law enforcers believe the drugs were supposed to be transferred to Russia and European countries while the runner was part of an international drug trafficking ring.

A criminal case has been opened to determine who the courier’s accomplices were, the ministry said.

Kyrgyzstan is a major transit point in the so-called northern route for the trafficking of hard drugs from Afghanistan via Central Asia to Russia, China and Europe.