MOSCOW, August 19. /ITAR-TASS/. Drug police have seized a batch of heroin worth more than $300 million in an operation in southern Moscow, chief of the drug control service said on Tuesday.
"Five drug traffickers were detained as they smuggled 178 kilograms of heroin into Russia," head of the Federal Drug Control Service (FDCS) Viktor Ivanov said, adding that the drug ring had been under police surveillance since April.
The batch had to be split into ten million single doses worth $300 million. The sum matches the FDCS's quarterly budget, he said.
Drugs were found in an articulated truck carrying a load of fruits. The vehicle crossed the borders of five states, and the caches containing the narcotic were sprinkled lavishly with pepper to remain undetected during sniffer dog check, head of the FDCS department for the Moscow region said.
Drug police also seized firearms from detainees.
"We've routed a criminal group posing a real threat to the Moscow region," the FDCS official said. These are 10 million single doses that never reached consumers, that is the Moscow region population."