YEKATERINBURG, April 20 (RIA Novosti) - Officials of the Ural customs and state drug control committee withdrew 850 grams of heroin in Yekaterinburg, the largest city in the Ural region, the press service of the Ural customs department said on Tuesday.
Policemen detained an unemployed Tajik national in the passenger train Bishkek-Sverdlovsk. He attempted to sneak nuts and dried fruits stuffed with heroin across the Russian border.
Since the beginning of 2004 Ural customers initiated 11 criminal proceedings for smuggling, including eight cases of drug trafficking from Tajikistan to Russia and three cases of smuggling of ammunition, cultural values and currency.
The main drug trafficking from Afghanistan to Russia begins in Tajikistan and goes via Central Asian countries (Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan) to Central Russia, the Urals and Siberia. This happens due to the long undeveloped border with Kazakhstan.
