Meanwhile, drug precursor business does not even demand a license in this country, with every chance to get the substances into the underhand turnover, pointed out local legal narcotic turnover control board heads as they gathered from all over Russia for a national seminar.
Russia earned reprimands for that state of affairs at many international forums. There were unequivocal accusations as Afghan heroin manufacturers are using Russian precursors, the Service public relations center says in a statement.
Even if Russia does not really deserve those charges, it cannot be removed unless showing in deed that it is ready to act. Legal amendments to tighten precursor control are the best way to do so, deem the conferees.
Heroin and synthetic drugs cannot be prepared without precursors-reagents, catalysts, acids and solvents.
Experts estimate this year's Afghan opium poppy yield at 4,200 tons, enough to make 420 tons of heroin. It takes 8,000 to 10,500 tons of precursors to obtain the amount. Afghanistan and countries bordering on it are not producing the substances on the required scale, says the Drug Control Service statement. The conferees do not rule out precursors getting to illegal laboratories from Russian factories.
Russia presently possesses more than 30,000 projects authorized to grow narcotic plants and circulate narcotic substances. Those projects had close on 15,000 checks and inspections, last January into October, to expose 4,000 instances of the law violations.
Legal narcotic turnover control officers have detected close on 3,900 drug-related crimes-1,600 of these qualified as grave or exceptionally grave. 39 underground drug laboratories have been tracked down and closed since the year's start. More than 3.3 tons of drugs and psychotropic substances, over 10.6 tons of other strong substances and 137 tons of drug precursors have been confiscated, reports the Drug Control Service. It pays the closest attention to gang crimes and their prevention. 206 such crimes were successfully detected within the year's first ten months.
