MOSCOW. Aug 9 (Interfax) - Officers of the Russian Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN) confiscated approximately nine tonnes of drugs and their precursors in the country in the first six months of 2012, a service spokesman told Interfax.
"FSKN officers shut down several major drug smuggling routes in the first half of 2012. Nine tonnes of drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors were confiscated," he said.
They included more than 1.8 tonnes of opiate drugs, some 6.7 tonnes of cannabis drugs and 428 kilograms of synthetic drugs, the spokesman said.
"Our analysis of the situation surrounding drug trafficking demonstrates that the scope of drug trafficking to Russia shows no sign of shrinking and remains steady," he said.
There has recently been an upsurge in drug smuggling from European countries, which act as a crossing point for heroin trafficking routes from Central Asia, cocaine from South America and hashish from Africa, the spokesman said.
"In the first half of 2012, FSKN officers detained six people who tried to smuggle heroin into our country from Europe. They also prevented seven hashish deliveries from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Germany disguised as postal deliveries," he said.
Drug traffickers from Europe also made attempts to smuggle synthetic drugs from Portugal, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and other European countries, he said.
"As a rule, MDMA and LSD are smuggled from the Netherlands and Germany, smoking mixtures from Slovenia and Latvia, ephedrine from Portugal and Lithuania, 2CB and ephedrine derivatives from the UK, and phencyclidine from Ukraine," the spokesman said.