Officers of the Penza drug-control directorate together with Mokshan district traffic inspectors stopped a car carrying suspected drug-trafficking suspects on the M-5 Ural highway near the settlement of Mokshan.[1] The two detained men are residents of Belgorod and Voronezh oblasts born in 1995 and 2001.[1]

During the vehicle inspection, police found and seized packages of hashish with a total mass of 8.5 kg hidden under the boot lining.[1] According to the detainees, they had collected the drug from a dead-drop cache in Moscow Oblast.[1] They were transporting the hashish to Samara and Chelyabinsk oblasts with the intention of setting up caches for further sale.[1]

A criminal case was opened on the signs of attempted large-scale illegal sale of narcotics under Article 30(3) and Article 228.1(4)(g) of the Russian Criminal Code.[1] The investigation into the case is under way.[1] The regional drug-control chief said the hashish was divided into small 50-100 gram parcels intended for dead drops in oblasts neighbouring Penza.[2] The same chief said the two men had come to police attention a month earlier because they had laid caches with drugs in Penza Oblast.[2]