Kazakhstan stops 21 tonnes of drugs in Qarasora-2026's first three months
Kazakhstan's interior ministry said its first three months of Qarasora-2026 stopped more than 2,000 drug offences and four organised crime groups and kept 21 tonnes of drugs out of circulation, without giving a cannabis-only weight. Police recorded 256 cases of cultivating drug-bearing plants, destroyed dozens of plantations and shut 25 indoor growing laboratories.
🇰🇿 Kazakhstan (Shu Valley and the southern regions) · Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan’s interior ministry reported interim results of the Qarasora-2026
operation after its first three months, saying officers had stopped more than
2,000 drug offences and shut down four organised crime groups.[1]The ministry
said it prevented 21 tonnes of drugs from reaching illegal circulation, without
giving a cannabis-only weight.[1]Police recorded 256 cases of cultivating
drug-bearing plants and destroyed dozens of drug plantations.[1]Officers
dismantled 25 indoor laboratories fitted out for growing drug-bearing plants,
the police said.[1]
The ministry said the Shu Valley, a tract of more than 60,000 hectares, draws
drug criminals, and that the sandy areas of the southern regions suit
cultivation of drug-bearing plants.[1]Police said they pulled forces and
resources into those regions and used aircraft, aviation and satellite
monitoring to find the plantations.[1]The Qarasora-2026 operation, the
interior ministry’s annual anti-cannabis drive, was still under way when the
interim results were published.[1]
The ministry’s own statement carried the same figures for the three months,
including four organised groups shut down and 21 tonnes kept out of circulation.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Agency type
Police
Cannabis
Living plants
Activity
Cultivation
Setting
Field, Other building
Grown
Indoor, Outdoor
Case stage
Under investigation
Sources
Казинформinform.kzRUТонны наркотиков, десятки лабораторий и ОПГ — итоги масштабной операции на юге Казахстана
Polisia.kzpolisia.kzKK"Қарасора - 2026": екі мыңнан астам есірткі құқық бұзушылығының жолы кесілді
Open questions the AI reported
The announcement gives no cannabis-only weight; the 21 tonnes covers all drugs, and synthetic and other substances cannot be separated, so no kg_seized figure is recorded.
No plant count, area cleared or value is given for the plantations destroyed; the 60,000-plus hectares is the size of the Shu Valley, not land cleared.
No arrests, detentions or charges are counted in the announcement; only the four organised groups shut down are reported.
The report does not name the three months covered; the ministry gives 1 June to 31 October as the operation's period.
The Kazinform page picture is credited only to Polisia.kz and is not established to show a plantation or seizure from this operation.
The article also mentions two separate earlier seizures, 6.5 kg of hashish in Taldykorgan and almost 2 kg of marijuana in North Kazakhstan, which belong to other events and are not reported here.
The text gives an area ("60,000 hectares") but the figures have no hectares; check whether it belongs there.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in Polisia.kz: The interior ministry announced the interim results of the operation, the police portal Polisia.kz reported.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in ҚР ІІМ Есірткі қылмысына қарсы іс-қимыл комитеті (gov.kz): The interior ministry's anti-drug committee also published the same 256 cultivation cases, dozens of destroyed plantations and 25 growing laboratories.
Police in Atameken village, Munaily District, stopped a 48-year-old man's Opel Vectra during the Qarasora and Kanal operations and found two packets holding about 2 kg 355 g of plant material thought to be marijuana. A criminal case was opened under article 297 and the suspect was placed in a temporary detention facility.
A court in Aktobe sentenced a 43-year-old man from the town of Shu to six years in prison for storing and selling marijuana, after he tried to sell 100 kilograms to an undercover KNB officer for 13 million tenge. In court he said he had found the bags beside the Aktobe-Atyrau highway and drove them into the city to pay off debts.
Police and National Guard officers destroyed a camouflaged Indian hemp plantation in the pre-desert zone of Zhambyl Region, seized 438 kg of marijuana and 50 two-metre bushes, and detained a 40-year-old Taraz resident. They also found a pistol, a shotgun and an SUV at the site.
Police mowed and seized 1.27 tonnes of un-dried wild cannabis in Balkhash District, Almaty Region, after a passenger stopped on the Bakanas–Topar road identified a collection site. Officers also detained the passenger and driver after finding 6.78 kilograms of un-dried marijuana in their car.
