MOSCOW. Sept 27 (Interfax) - Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika has said he believes that ongoing measures to combat drug trafficking fail to match the actual scope of these crimes.
"Despite the presence of positive results, I have to admit that our measures have so far proven unable to match the real scope of the drug trade's expansion into our country," Chaika said on Friday.
"Furthermore, drug-related crimes still have the highest degree of latency as compared with all the other offences," he said.
Investigations opened against gangs suspected of drug smuggling have not been effective enough, Chaika said.
"I think there is no doubt that the drug business is the most organized form of criminal activity. However, last year investigators were able to prove organized groups' involvement in only one-tenth of all the investigated crimes," the prosecutor general said.
Chaika blamed this on "the poor quality of measures intended to expose and document the activities of groups engaged in drug dealing."
Chaika also criticized the efficiency of investigators' work to solve these crimes.
In 2012, 219,000 drug-related crimes were uncovered, but only 60% of criminal cases opened into them were subsequently referred to courts, he added.