ROSTOV-ON-DON, February 21(RIA Novosti) - Customs officers in the Astrakhan Region, in the south of European Russia, seized 8.5 kilograms of heroin from a Tajik national heading to Moscow Wednesday.
"An inspection of his baggage revealed a plastic can containing lamb fat. Drug police, who were quickly called in, ascertained that it contained about 8.5 kilograms of heroin", the customs spokesman said.
The Tajik citizen, who had been put on a wanted list, was detained and a criminal case opened under Article 228 of the Russian Criminal Law Code (illegal transportation of narcotic substances)," the official said.
The narcotics trade has become an acute problem for the impoverished Central Asian republic of Tajikistan, due to a continual flow of illegal drugs from neighboring Afghanistan, the world's largest supplier of heroin and opium.
