Moscow, July 7 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Some 75 tonnes of drugs are smuggled into Russia from Afghanistan via Central Asia every year, Russian drug control authority said Wednesday.
Around 30 percent of heroin originating from Afghanistan comes through Central Asia, which serves as a transit area for drug smugglers, said Oleg Safonov, deputy head of Russia’s Drug Control Service.
‘Due to the extension of the Russian-Kazakh border, the major share of drugs comes into the territory of the Urals Federal District and is then spread across the entire territory of Russia,’ he said.
Safonov said 120,000 people were charged with drug-related crimes last year. ‘But we understand this problem cannot be solved only by measures taken by police, it is a complex issue.’
–IANS/RIA Novosti
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