BRYANSK, August 13 (RIA Novosti) – A Russian fire department official who specialized in teaching colleagues how to operate the fire engine will stand trial for setting up a marijuana grow operation in his garage, investigators said Tuesday.
More than 1.3 kilograms (three pounds) of marijuana was seized by narcotics officers during an April raid on the 34-year-old’s “high-tech laboratory,” in the central Russian city of Bryansk, the Investigative Committee said in a statement.
The suspect, Sergei Fomenkov, has been charged with illegal possession, production and sales of large amounts of the drug between 2010 and 2013.
The case has been approved by the regional prosecutor’s office and sent to court, the committee said, without saying when the trial would start.
About 150,000 people in Russia are jailed annually for drug-related crimes, the Federal Drug Control Service said earlier this year.
