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Siberian police shut down major synthetic drug distribution ring

The police have seized 42 kg of drugs worth $854,000

MOSCOW, May 5. /TASS/. Russian police have dismantled a major pipeline for supplying synthetic drugs in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, seizing 42 kg of drugs worth 50 million rubles ($854,000), Russian Interior Ministry Spokeswoman, Irina Volk, said in an interview with TASS on Friday.

"During the investigative activities near a house in Novosibirsk, police officers detained a 25-year-old man suspected of attempting to sell 42 kg of narcotic substances," she said.

According to Volk, while examining the suspect’s backpack, the police officers found and seized a crystal-shaped white substance weighing 7 kg. Later they found the suspect's stash on the riverside in Novosibirsk, from which 2 kg of the substance was retrieved. Another 33 packages containing the crystal-shaped substance were found and seized in the suspect’s apartment.

"The results of the study at the Criminal Expertise Center of the Russian Interior Ministry’s Main Directorate in the Novosibirsk Region indicate that the seized substance was a synthetic drug with a total weight of 42 kg. This could be enough to prepare 140,000 doses. The approximate cost of the drug batch is estimated at 50 million rubles," Volk added.

Charges are being pressed against the suspect who was arrested.