Twenty-three kilos of heroine and forty-seven kilos of opium confiscated in Novosibirsk region

An unprecedented shipment of drugs - 23 kg of high quality Afghan heroine and 47 kg of opium - has been confiscated in the Novosibirsk region (Siberia), Stanislav Chekalin, the Chief of the Public Relations Group of the Novosibirsk Regional Department of the Russian Federal Security Service /FSB/, was quoted as saying on Tuesday. The shipment has been delivered to the region from Central Asia. FSB and police subsequently confiscated it as a result of a multistage special joint operation to counteract international drug trafficking. According to Chekalin, this is one of the biggest shipments of hard drugs ever arrested in Siberia. Its estimated price on "the black market" is approximately 20 mln. roubles. Six suspected drug dealers have been arrested. Chekalin added that Novosibirsk agents had enough grounds to believe that this operation had resulted not only in the arrest of a huge shipment of strong drugs, but also in the elimination of a channel of delivering deadly substance to the region.