Uzbek customs seize heroin making ingredient

Customs officials in Uzbekistan are reported to have seized nearly forty tonnesof an ingredient used to manufacture heroin.

The Russian Interfax news agency quotes the Uzbek Customs Committee as saying that the seizure was made in the southern river-port city of Termez, on the border with Afghanistan.

It says the substance was concealed in containers labelled as sewing machines and detergent which were shipped from China.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service