NOVOSIBIRSK, July 6 (RIA Novosti) - Residents in south Siberia have discovered a hoard of some 9 kilograms (19 lbs) of heroin, a Federal Security Service spokesman said on Monday.

The stash was found in a drum hidden in a ditch covered by bushes in Russia's southern Siberian Republic of Altai, the spokesman said.

The drugs which were packaged into around 90,000 doses of heroin, believed to have been produced in Afghanistan, are worth 5 million rubles ($160,000), the spokesman said.

The people who found the drugs have received a reward, he said.

An investigation to trace the owners is ongoing.