Anglo-Soviet Team Seizes 3 1/2 Tons of Hashish in London

Customs investigators in London seized 3 1/2 tons of Afghan hashish in the first-ever narcotics seizure involving Britain and the Soviet Union, authorities said Friday.

“The drugs came from Afghanistan, overland through the Soviet Union. The Soviet authorities got wind of that and agreed to cooperate in tracking them, letting them out of the Soviet Union and to the United Kingdom so that we were able to seize them here,” said Home Office Minister Peter Lilley.

Officers tracked the drugs consignment from Kabul, the Afghan capital, by rail across the Soviet Union and by sea from Leningrad to London’s Tilbury docks, said a Customs and Excise spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He said five men were arrested Thursday night.

The spokesman said the seizure, code-named Operation Diplomat, arose from a visit by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to Moscow last year. During the visit, Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze discussed ways of cooperating against drugs.