MOSCOW, May 21. /TASS/. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior, thwarted the activity of a transnational ethnic crime gang and shut down a network of inter-regional supply channels for large batches of highly concentrated Afghan heroin, the FSB press service told TASS Thursday.

"During the joint operation over 48kg of heroin was seized, the illegal activity of five members of the transnational ethnic drug group was thwarted. The Ministry of the Interior’s investigative agencies initiated 7 criminal proceedings, the perpetrators were taken into custody," the press service said.

The security agency disclosed that the gang involved nationals of several states, and that the operation was conducted in several stages. During the first stage, an inter-regional drug courier was caught red-handed, as they sought to sell over 2kg of heroin in the Moscow Region. Later, one of the active members of the group was apprehended in the Kaluga Region, that time about 13kg of heroin was confiscated. During the final stage of the operation, which took place in May, the group’s mastermind and several other active members were captured; they possessed at least 33kg of heroin.