MOSCOW, August 24 (RIA Novosti) - Drug police in Russia's Urals city of Yekaterinburg seized around 13 kilograms (28 pounds) of heroin from three Tajik citizens, a police spokesman told RIA Novosti on Monday.
Police seized around 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of heroin from a car with a Tajik driver and passenger in the Yekaterinburg's Zheleznodorozhny District.
"Also, in the Ordzhonikidzevsky District, on Shefskaya Street, agents arrested an unemployed Tajik from whom they seized 2.9 kilograms (6 pounds) of heroin," the spokesman added.
The ex-Soviet Central Asian states remain major drug suppliers to Russia. According to estimates, about 90% of heroin consumed in Russia is trafficked from Afghanistan via Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Illegal drug production in the country has risen more than 40 times since 2001.
