Almost 140 foreigners, including 24 Russians, detained for drug crimes in Uzbekistan over past year
TASHKENT. June 9 (Interfax) - Uzbekistan detected 6,648 drug-related crimes in 2015, the Uzbek National Information and Analytical Center for Drug Control said in its yearly analytical review.
"Some 3,017 of those crimes were related to drug distribution (3,062 the year before), 709 to contraband (607) and 1,301 to illegal growing of drug crops (1,320)," the review said.
A total of 138 foreign citizens were detained in Uzbekistan last year on drug trafficking charges. Most of them were citizens of Afghanistan (33), Tajikistan (27) and Russia (24).
More than 2.5 tonnes of drugs were seized in Uzbekistan in 2015 (2.298 the year before), including 147.9 kilograms of heroin (106.5 in 2014), 882.3 kilograms of opium (881.9), more than one tonne of marijuana (802.9), and 250.2 kilograms of hashish (100).
Courts heard 3,523 drug trafficking cases in 2015 (3,433 the year before) and sentenced 4,578 individuals (4,568).