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Illegal methadone batch seized in Moscow headed to Tajikistan under UN program

The batch was bought by the UN’s Global Fund to Fight AIDS and was aimed at treating drug addicts in Tajikistan, according to the senior local official

Vnukovo Airport Tatyana Belyakova/TASS

Vnukovo Airport

© Tatyana Belyakova/TASS

DUSHANBE, December 17. /TASS/. A large batch of methadone seized at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport was bought by the UN’s Global Fund to Fight AIDS and was aimed at treating drug addicts in Tajikistan, the deputy head of the Central Asian country’s Health Ministry’s anti-drug service, Rustam Sharipov, told TASS.

"Methadone’s ordering customer is the Global Fund of the United Nations Development Program, which operates in Tajikistan," Sharipov said. According to the official, a letter requesting the drug’s purchase was addressed to the Global Fund, which is responsible for delivering the cargo to Tajikistan.

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A source in the international organization informed that the shipper and the transport company were responsible for the cargo. Under the agreement, the cargo was to be delivered to Tajikistan and only then the ordering organization would assume responsibility for it.

A large batch of methadone, a drug banned in Russia, worth more than 5.8 bln rubles ($93 mln) was seized by customs officers at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport. The batch, which had not been declared, was en route from Germany to Tajikistan. The Vnukovo customs launched a criminal investigation into smuggling a large amount of drugs.

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