MOSCOW, November October 30 (RIA Novosti) - Police have seized 1.5 kg (3.3 lbs) of heroin from a Tajik national in the center of Moscow, a police spokesman told RIA Novosti on Sunday.

"Police operatives seized 1.5 kilograms of heroin, presumably of Afghan origin, from a 35-year-old man who was staying in Moscow without registration," the spokesman said.

According to police data, the detained person regularly supplied and sold heroin in Moscow.

An estimated 90% of heroin consumed in Russia is trafficked from Afghanistan via the ex-Soviet states of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The vast majority of heroin consumed in Europe passes through Russia on its way from Afghanistan, where illegal drug production has reportedly increased more than 40 times since U.S. forces toppled the radical Islamic Taliban movement in 2001.