Over 6 tns of drugs, 40 tns of precursors seized in CSTO operation
The operation, referred to as the Channel-2010, involved some 100,000 anti-drug police officers and other law enforcers from the CSTO member states. "A total of 6.6 tons of drugs and more than 40 tons of precursors have been seized, more than 4,300 people, including some 2,000 drug dealers, have been brought to criminal responsibility," Ivanov told a meeting of the coordinating board of heads of CSTO anti-drug agencies.
According to Ivanov, the operation yielded "one of the biggest lump batches of Afghan heroin ever seized in the recent years - 180 kilograms that were shipped by freight trucks along with agricultural products."
"The drugs were hidden in secret compartments in persimmon cases. The batch was seized in St. Petersburg although police found out that the drugs reached the city from Chelyabinsk, where the heroine had been delivered from Afghanistan via Tajikistan," he said.
According to the Russian anti-drug official, the operation has delivered a deadly blow on the drug business and produced a sanative effect on the general situation in the regions where it was conducted. Thus, he said, more than 25,000 crimes not related to drug trafficking have been exposed, more than 1,000 pieces of firearms and some 20,000 pieces of ammunition have been seized. Police have seized banned articles to the total amount of 1.1 million U.S. dollars.
The operation was aimed not only against Afghan opiates but also against synthetic drugs from Europe and cocaine from Latin America, including via the Black and Caspian Seas; Kazinform cites Itar-Tass.