Uzbek authorities on Tuesday incinerated 424 kilograms of heroin at a factory outside the capital Tashkent in the presence of foreign diplomats and media. Overall, the Uzbek authorities destroyed 772 kilograms of drugs.

"The drugs were confiscated from drug traffickers as a result of anti-drug operations by Uzbek law enforcement bodies," said Kamol Dustmetov, director of the National Centre on Drug Control.

Last year, Uzbek law enforcement bodies seized 1,792 kilograms of drugs, including 537 kilograms of heroin, officials said, adding that opium seizure had increased sevenfold compared to 2005.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime earlier said that the increase in seizures was partly attributable to improvements in Uzbek law enforcement, but that an increase in the crop from Afghanistan was another possible reason.

Uzbekistan borders Afghanistan, a major source of the world’s heroin production, and also Tajikistan, which is one of the main export routes for Afghan heroin.