The convicted person was a native of Afghanistan, he had no criminal record in the past and worked as a deputy editor-in-chief of the Gurash local newspaper.

In all, 90 tablets of Phenobarbital, which is considered to be a strong psychotropic substance, were seized from him during an examination at the Ayritom customs checkpoint. The Afghan citizen was found guilty of committing crimes envisaged by the Uzbek Criminal Code’s Article 246 Part 2 (smuggling psychotropic substances) and Article 276 Part 2 sub-clause a (illegal purchase, possession and other actions involving psychotropic substances without aiming to sell them in large amounts).

During the trial, Habibollah Abdol Ghafur admitted that he had bought these tablets in one of the local chemists in Afghanistan and did not want to sell them in Uzbekistan because he has been taking these drugs for over ten years, the source said. While filling in customs declaration and during a verbal inquiry, he said he had US$290 and 2,220 afghanis. Moreover, he said that he had not got any narcotic and psychotropic substances banned from import into the country on him. However, his face strongly changed from nervousness and his legs started to shake during customs examination and that aroused suspicion of customs officers.