MOSCOW, November 1 (RIA Novosti) – Anti-drug police in Kyrgyzstan seized $2.5 million worth of heroin on its way to Russia, the country’s Interior Ministry said Friday.
Operatives of a special police commission to combat drug trafficking followed a drug courier’s car through Kyrgyzstan to the capital Bishkek near the former Soviet state’s northern border, where the car was stopped and searched, police said.
They found 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of heroin from Afghanistan – about 100,000 doses – in the car, which the police said was bound for Kazakhstan and then Russia.
The narcotics couriers were arrested and police said they are continuing efforts to track down the organizers and their accomplices in the drug smuggling operation.
Drugs from Afghanistan – one of the world leaders in heroin production – commonly travel along a so-called northern route through Central Asia to reach Russia, which is home to an estimated $6 billion heroin market, according to Russia’s state drug control service head Viktor Ivanov.
Ivanov said police seized about 900 tons of opiates on the northern route between June and August this year.
