Officers of the drug-control department of the Lipetsk regional interior ministry detained a 42-year-old resident of a village in Lipetsky municipal okrug on suspicion of unlawful storage of plant-based narcotics.[1][2] Police say the unlawful activity was uncovered during the third stage of the interdepartmental operation Mak-2026.[3][2] The man told police he had kept the banned substances for personal use, with no intent to sell.[1]

Searching his property, officers seized six cannabis bushes he had grown in the yard and a plastic jar with a ready-to-use drug kept in the garage.[1][2] According to the expert findings, the growing plants weighed more than 1.9 kilograms and the ready-to-use drug weighed 13.1 grams.[3][2] On his household plot he had grown the cannabis, processed it and stored the finished drug in the garage.[4]

An investigator of the Lipetsky police department opened a criminal case under part 2 of article 228, unlawful storage of narcotics on a large scale without purpose of sale.[1][2] The charge carries a maximum penalty of up to 10 years’ imprisonment.[3] The suspect was placed under a travel restriction requiring him not to leave and to behave properly.[3][2]