The investigative department of the interior ministry division for Khabarovsky district opened three criminal cases against a 50-year-old resident of the village of Knyaze-Volkonskoye with repeated previous convictions, under part 3 of article 30 with part 4 of article 228.1 and part 2 of article 228 of the Russian Criminal Code.[1] Drug-control officers of the Khabarovsk Krai interior ministry department stopped his activity together with district police colleagues and with power support from Rosgvardia fighters.[1] He was placed in custody as a measure of restraint.[1]

During a search of the house and outbuildings belonging to him, officers found and seized more than 35 kilograms of marijuana, over 18 grams of hashish oil, more than 5 kilograms of cannabis parts and about 50,000 rubles earned from selling the drug.[1] He also kept a 16-gauge smoothbore shotgun and 94 cartridges of 16 mm calibre without permits.[1] In the same place officers found a loose substance in two metal cans with a total mass of 181 grams, which experts identified as smokeless hunting gunpowder.[1] The material on the illegal storage of the weapon, ammunition and explosives was separated into a separate proceeding, and an inquiry is under way.[1]

According to the detainee’s testimony, last spring he bought cannabis seeds from an unknown person and planted them in a forest belt near his house, then harvested the crop and made the drug at home for his own use.[1] The investigation believes, however, that he supplied fellow villagers and residents of nearby settlements with the drug.[1] He said he had found the weapon, cartridges and gunpowder about 10 years ago while fishing and had kept the find, supposedly to defend himself against wild animals.[1]