Kyrgyzstan is a mountainous Central Asian country and former Soviet state bordered by Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and China. Since achieving [Page 455]independence in 1991, the country has had difficulty achieving stability. Organized crime groups are known to have significant influence with various political entities in the government, and riots continue to be an occasional occurrence, breaking out most recently in April 2010 in the town of Talas and the capital city of Bishkek, as violent protesters demonstrated their anger over the sluggish economy and ineffective leadership. There remain persistent rumors that the 2004 “Tulip Revolution” was funded by drug cartels.

The southern borders of the country have long been a route for trafficking Afghan heroin to the West, and such traffic augments Kyrgyzstan's supply of heroin ...