Over 9 thousand tons of narcotics seized in Russia in first eight months of 2003

In the first eight months of 2003 more than 9 thousand tons of narcotics and USD 18.9 million worth of narcotics have been seized by authorities in Russia, said Criminal Police Organized Crime Service Deputy Director Colonel Vitaly Skvortsov in a briefing yesterday, which was devoted to the activities of the narcotics division.

He said that since the beginning of the year, the police have uncovered more than 123 thousand crimes connected with illegal narcotics trade, including 46 thousand incidents of illegal narcotics trading and more than 400 incidents of smuggling narcotics. Skvortsov said that resisting the illegal trade of narcotics was a major priority for the police. 'Just in the period from July-August we uncovered more than 24 thousand narcotics related crimes, including 7.5 thousand incidents of illegal narcotics selling. And more than 2 thousand tonnes of illegal narcotics were seized,' he said.