Officers of the organised-crime department of the criminal-investigation directorate of the Interior Ministry for the Republic of Bashkortostan detained a previously convicted 46-year-old resident of Sterlitamak who grew drug-containing plants for sale.[1] The officers acted on operational information about his activity.[1]

During a search of his private house, investigators found and seized about 14 kilograms of cannabis and poppy straw, a combined figure the police statement does not split between the two substances.[1] In three greenhouses on the man’s land, police found 118 cannabis bushes whose drug mass, converted to dry weight, came to about 35 kilograms.[1] They also seized cultivation equipment: spades, rakes and watering cans.[1]

The man admitted he had grown “durman-travu” to sell to drug-dependent people hand to hand; the term is a Russian colloquial name for drug plants.[1] Investigators and inquiry officers of the Sterlitamak interior ministry opened criminal cases under part 3 of article 30 with point “g” of part 4 of article 228.1, and part 1 of article 231, of the Russian Criminal Code: attempted large-scale drug sale and illegal cultivation of drug-containing plants.[1] A court placed the suspect in custody as a preventive measure.[1]

The Bashkortostan state television company reported the man’s detention and the seizure of the cannabis in the greenhouses.[2]