Drugs haul in diplomat's car

The ambassador was invited to watch the search at Almaty

The Kazakh security services say they have found 62 kilos of heroin in two cars - one of them belonging to the Tajik ambassador to Kazakhstan, Sadullozhan Nigmatov.

Officers said they found the heroin - worth more than $1m - in two hidden compartments, along with $54,000 in cash and a bank cheque for $1.9m (£1.2m).

Five Tajik nationals were arrested, including Bakhtiar Kuralov, the Tajik Embassy's chief administrator and driver.

Kazakh officials say the Tajik ambassador was not in the car at the time, but was invited to watch the search of his vehicle - which took place near the city of Almaty.

There was no immediate reaction from neither of the governments.

Drugs distribution

According to officials, Mr Kuralov was returning to Kazakhstan from Tajikistan when the drugs were found.

Part of the consignment was intended for distribution in Almaty and the rest was to be smuggled to Russia and western Europe, said Azat Amirgaliyev, a spokesman for the Almaty branch of Kazakhstan's National Security Committee.

Tajikistan, an impoverished former Soviet republic still reeling from a five-year civil war, is reported to be a major drug route from Afghanistan to Russia and western Europe.

Drug dealers have benefited from economic turmoil, widespread official corruption and money-laundering in the former Soviet republics.