The flow of drugs into the Republic of Dagestan in Russia's volatile North Caucasus region increased 60 times in 2009, Russian drug control chief Viktor Ivanov said on Saturday.
"The volume of confiscated heroin in the North Caucasus federal district testifies to the eight-fold increase in drug trafficking into that Russian region. In Dagestan, this trafficking has risen 60 times," Ivanov said.
Ivanov said growing drug trafficking caused a proportionate growth in crime, terrorist activity and was destabilizing the situation in the Caucasus.
"In actuality, the Afghan drug trafficking has become a catalyst for the development of negative processes in the North Caucasus," Ivanov said.
The Russian drug control official earlier said that successful anti-drug trafficking operations in Pakistan lately had redirected the flow of drugs into Russia from Afghanistan.
"According to our Pakistani colleagues, special operations caused a 70% weakening in the southern drug trafficking routes across Pakistan to India and that [percentage] has been redirected to the North Caucasus," Ivanov said.
He said drug traffickers were actively using Iran and Azerbaijan as transit countries, and pointed to the substantial role Georgia was playing in drug trafficking.
"According to our data and information from foreign sources, the high level of corruption among Georgian authorities is preventing the fight against drug transit across the country from being effective," Ivanov said.
MOSCOW, February 27 (RIA Novosti)
