Police in Siberia arrest 3 traffickers, seize 11 kg of heroin

Police have arrested three suspected drug-traffickers and seized over 11 kg of heroin in a series of special operations in the Khanty-Mansi autonomous district in Siberia, Russian prosecutors said

YEKATERINBURG, June 8 (RIA Novosti) - Police have arrested three suspected drug-traffickers and seized over 11 kg of heroin in a series of special operations in the Khanty-Mansi autonomous district in Siberia, Russian prosecutors said on Monday.

"Police in the Khanty-Mansi autonomous district arrested a 21-year-old citizen of Tajikistan in the city of Surgut and seized over 5 kg of heroine prepared for distribution," the Prosecutor General's Office said in a statement on its website.

Another Tajik citizen was detained in the same city and charged with possession of 5.2 kg of heroin, the statement said.

"Police also arrested a 28-year-old illegal immigrant from Azerbaijan who attempted to sell 1.4 kg of heroin in the city of Nizhnevartovsk," prosecutors said.

The suspects face up to 20 years in jail if convicted.

Major heroin seizures have been made recently in southwest Siberia's Altai Territory, West Siberia's Khanty-Mansi and the Kurgan Region in the southern Urals.

Over 95% of heroin sold in Russia is produced in Afghanistan, the world's largest producer.

According to Russia's Federal Drug Control Service, about 180 Afghan drug cartels are trafficking heroin to Russia mainly via ex-Soviet republics of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.