Not long after late 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan became independent, illegal narcotics trafficking started through the region, mainly coming from drug-producing countries in South Asia, particularly Afghanistan, and being smuggled through Central Asian territory to Russia and from there to Europe. For the most part, Central Asia was simply a transit area for narcotics trafficking but that is changing. Drug smuggling continues but now newer illegal narcotics also are being produced in Central Asia for a growing domestic market. After more than 30 years of developing counter-narcotics agencies, officials in the countries are faced with rapidly evolving situation that makes drug interdiction more difficult and distribution much easier.
The Problem
On November 13, the website of Kazakhstan’s Interior Ministry posted the results of the 10-day “Law and Order” counter-narcotics operation that had just concluded. They detained 27 people and seized some 80 kilograms of narcotics, mostly mephedrone and Alfa-PVP, so-called synthetic drugs. One of the raids was on a laboratory in the city of Karaganda, about 140 miles south of the capital Astana, that produced Alfa-PVP. Police seized two tons of precursor substances at the laboratory.
At the start of November, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyoev approved the 2025-2026 national programfor combating drug-related crimes. According to information posted on the Uzbek president’s website, there were more than 11,000 drug-related crimes and some 2.5 tons of narcotics seized in Uzbekistan since the start of 2025. In July, Uzbekistan’s chief narcologist Zarifjon Ashurov noted drug use among youth is increasing. Ashurov said there are 5,000 registered cases of minors who are drug-dependent and the youngest is 10 years old. Some of that is attributed to misuse of prescription drugs, but Tashkent Deputy Mayor Durdona Rahimova said in November 2024 there is an increase in the number of students at schools in the Uzbek capital who are using synthetic drugs.
In Kyrgyzstan on October 30, the head of the country’s counter-narcotics department Kanybek Usenov said in the first nine months of 2025, Kyrgyz law enforcement seized 4.725 tons of illegal drugs and precursors. Usenov pointed out that of narcotics confiscated, 798 kilograms was synthetic drugs, compared to 34 kilograms seized in all of 2024. Usenov added that five laboratories for producing synthetic drugs were uncovered in Kyrgyzstan in 2025, but he said use of these drugs is growing mainly because of shipments arriving from Kazakhstan and Russia.
Read the full article on the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
Bruce Pannier is a Senior Fellow at the Turan Research Center.