ST. PETERSBURG, February 2. /TASS/. Agents of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) interdicted a major channel for trafficking illicit drugs from Latin America to Russia, seizing over 640 kg of briquetted cocaine from smugglers, the press service of the FSB Branch for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region said in a statement.

"[A consignment containing] more than 641 kg of a narcotic substance, cocaine, in the form of briquettes with a total estimated street value of over 2 bln rubles ($22.1 mln) was taken out of circulation as a result of operational and investigative actions carried out. The investigative service of the Russian FSB Branch for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region has initiated criminal proceedings in respect of this fact under Part 5, Article 228.1 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Illegal production, sale or forwarding of narcotic substances, psychotropic substances, or their analogues in a particularly large volume"), the press service said.

According to the FSB, the cocaine was being smuggled into Russia for subsequent large-scale sales on a wholesale basis within the country. The suspected drug traffickers implicated in smuggling the consignment of cocaine were arrested and have been placed in detention.