MOSCOW, July 6. /TASS/: The Federal Security Service (FSB) has apprehended members of a criminal drug-running network which organized supplies to 12 Russian regions. In all, the federal law enforcement agency seized the total of 55 kilos of narcotic substances, the FSB Public Relations Center informed TASS on Monday.
"An operation was carried out to thwart the illegal activities of an organized criminal gang and to eliminate a network of inter-regional delivery channels of large batches of synthetic narcotic substances. The active members of the criminal group, citizens of Russia, were identified," the FSB stated.
In the Moscow and the Yaroslavl Regions, three drug couriers were caught with about 45 kilos of amphetamine and 10 kilos of MDMA as 23,000 pills stashed in their car, as they were transporting the these drugs from the Leningrad Region. "The narcotic substances seized were slated for distribution in the Moscow, Kaluga, Yaroslavl, Voronezh, Tula, Vladimir, Ivanovo, Tambov, Nizhny Novgorod, Saratov, and Rostov Regions, as well as in the Krasnodar Region," the FSB reported.
Detectives have opened two criminal cases against the detainees. The suspects are now in custody.
At the end of May, the FSB reported on a joint drug dragnet with the Internal Ministry against a criminal gang which included citizens of several states. Thanks to the operation, the authorities seized over 48 kilos of highly concentrated Afghan heroin.
