In Primorsky Krai in Russia’s Far East, officers of the Interior Ministry’s Pogranichny district department received information during the fifth stage of the preventive operation Mak that a local resident was storing prohibited substances.[1] After verifying the tip, officers found and seized a batch of plant-origin narcotic in a shed in the yard of a household property in the settlement of Talovy belonging to a 41-year-old resident of the village of Novonikolsk.[1]
An expert examination concluded that the seized substance was marijuana.[1] Police said its weight was more than 136 kg, an amount that qualifies as an especially large size under Russian law.[1] An investigator of the investigative unit of the Pogranichny district police then opened a criminal case under part 3 of Article 228 of the Russian Criminal Code.[1] The report notes that the sanction under that part provides for imprisonment for up to 15 years.[1]
Police said they continue systematic work to identify and suppress crimes and administrative offences involving illegal trafficking in narcotics and psychoactive substances.[1]
