MOSCOW. May 27 (Interfax) - Over 12 tonnes of drugs have been seized during an unprecedented special operation held in CSTO member states by employees of the Russian Federal Drug Control Service (FSKN) jointly with Russian and CSTO law enforcement authorities, the FSKN press office said.
"During the Canal-Southern Trap operation on May 20-25 over 1,700 joint operative groups and over 1,300 checkpoints at railway, air, maritime and vehicle transport facilities and closed border areas were established. As a result, 12.5 tonnes drugs have been seized and over 10 tonnes of them are opiates of Afghan origin, 900 kg of hashish, 250 kg of heroin, 19 of kg synthetic drugs and around 700 kg of marijuana," the press office told Interfax.
At the same time, 2,400 drug-related crimes were registered, 13,700 criminal cases have been opened, over 1,500 people have been held criminally liable and over 1,000 were held administratively liable, the press office said.
"For the first time the event of such scale combines battle operation and strategic drills on terminating activities of cross-national drug formations using the territory of northern Afghanistan for trafficking Afghan drugs to the territory of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) states, including countries of the Customs Union," the press office said.
Over 21,000 employees of anti-drug subdivisions, interior agencies, security bodies, customs and border services and financial intelligence of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan participated in the Canal-Southern Trap operation, the drug control service said.
According to the information of the press office, the joint Russian-Afghan anti-drug event, during which five drug laboratories were closed and over 300 kg of opiates and over 8 tonnes of precursors were seized, was held on May 14 in the northern Afghan province of Badakhshan prior to the latest operation.
"All laboratories liquidated drugs provided to traffickers specializing in supplies at northern route in the Russian direction," the press office said.