Tajikistan’s narcotics control agency said its officers had intercepted a drug smuggling operation on the border with Uzbekistan, and seized 44 kg (120 pounds) of heroin, reported RIA Novosti.

The traffickers, riding on horseback along the border and carrying the drugs in sacks, abandoned their load and fled to the neighboring Central Asian republic after being caught by the officers.

They did not react to the agency officers’ orders to stop, and only when warning shots were fired, they dropped the sacks and escaped to Uzbek territory," an agency source said.

The source said the haul also contained 10 kg (22 pounds) of cannabis.

The narcotics trade has become an acute problem for the impoverished ex-Soviet nation of Tajikistan, due to a continual flow of illegal drugs from Afghanistan, the world’s largest supplier of heroin and opium.