ASTANA. April 28 (Interfax) - Russian Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev has announced that successful anti-drug operations have been carried out jointly with colleagues in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
"Since the beginning of 2010, the Russian Interior Ministry, jointly with law enforcement services of the SCO member-states, has carried out seven international operations, seizing over 112 kilograms of drugs, and detained 13 people involved in the drug business," Nurgaliyev said on Thursday after a meeting in Astana.
"It is an open secret that proceeds from the illegal drug business constitute a large part of organized criminal ring's funding," he said. "Russia is crossed by the Northern Route for the transportation of heroin from the northern provinces of Afghanistan through Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. Not infrequently, Russia is being used to transit drugs to Europe," he said.
"In experts' estimate, the Northern Route handles up to 35% of all drugs manufactured in Afghanistan. In this connection the fight against illicit drug trafficking is a pressing issue for the SCO countries," he said.
Nurgaliyev cited the detention of two Kazakh citizens in Omsk and the seizure of more than 19 kilograms of Marijuana from them as an example of successful cooperation in combating international drug trafficking. "An operation to track down a channel of drug transiting to Russia is continuing with Kazakh colleagues," Nurgaliyev said.