22 Aug 2018, 16:32

Muscovite gets 11.5 years in jail for bringing home Peruvian shaman’s drug potion

A designer and decorator at Moscow’s shopping center had made a trip to Peru in search of an effective treatment for intervertebral hernia and other illnesses

MOSCOW, August 22. /TASS/. A court in the Moscow Region has handed an 11.5-years prison term to a resident of Moscow for smuggling in a narcotic substance from Peru.

"Maxim Gert was found guilty and handed an 11.5 prison term in a strict security penitentiary," the court’s spokesman said, adding that the sentence had been pronounced two months ago and then protested at the Moscow Region’s Court.

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The defense says that the convict, a designer and decorator at Moscow’s shopping center TsUM, had made a trip to Peru in search of an effective treatment for intervertebral hernia and other illnesses, because none of the officially recognized methods worked.

"After taking a course of treatment in Peru with ayahuyasca (hallucinogenic brew) - a traditional potion used by Peruvian shamans - my client brought one liter of the potion home," lawyer Vladimir Brigadin told TASS.

In March 2017, the Customs at one of Moscow’s airports confiscated the bottle and ordered examination, which identified 465 grams of dimethyltriptamine, a drug outlawed in Russia.

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Moscow ready to host peace treaty signing for Armenia, Azerbaijan — Russian MFA

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