NOVOSIBIRSK, November 10 (RIA Novosti) - Russian customs officers have seized more than 11 kg of heroin in the southern Siberian city of Rubtsovsk, in the Altai Territory, a border guards spokeswoman said on Monday.
The drug was found in the wagon of a freight train, loaded with dried fruits from the Central Asian republic of Tajikistan. Plastic bags with heroin were stashed in boxes with dried prunes and, according to notes written on the bags, they were bound for the West Siberian city of Novosibirsk.
Several people were detained in connection with the seizure, and a criminal case was launched.
Tajikistan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia, is a major gateway to Russia and other nearby countries for drugs from neighboring Afghanistan, the world's leader heroin producer. The Altai Territory borders another Central Asian republic, Kazakhstan.
