Russian customs officers and Interior Ministry officers disrupted an international criminal group that planned to move drugs illegally to Kyrgyzstan.[1] Customs found that a 42-year-old Russian woman planned the shipment, hiding substances in everyday items and passing them for dispatch through delivery services, and she was detained.[1] The same account is confirmed by a second outlet, which says the 42-year-old Russian woman organized the dispatch and was detained after concealing substances in everyday items sent through delivery services.[2] Criminal cases were opened against the detained woman for organized-group smuggling on an especially large scale, an offence the customs service says carries up to life imprisonment.[2] In a joint international operation, Russian customs officers and Kyrgyz Interior Ministry officers detained the consignees in Bishkek, and investigative work was continuing.[2]

In Moscow and the surrounding region, customs officers found and seized 3.9 kg of drugs in passenger cars, hidden in sweet wrappers, stew cans, body scrubs and other items.[1] Expert examinations found that the seized material contained hashish and alpha-PVP.[1] A second account likewise says the drugs were in sweet packets, stew cans and body-scrub jars and that examinations established the presence of hashish and alpha-PVP.[2] The authorities put the black-market value of the seized substances at more than 17 million roubles.[1]