MOSCOW, November 15 (RIA Novosti) - Police seized over 12 kilograms of heroin in a special operation outside Moscow to fight drug trafficking channels, a police spokesman said on Sunday.

The operation was carried out on Saturday on the 124th km of the Ural highway when the police stopped a car that was presumably transporting narcotic drugs, the spokesman said.

"During the car's inspection, the operatives found more than 12.5 kg of heroin," the spokesman said.

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.