RIA Novosti, Russia
November 18, 2004

OVER 500 KG OF DRUGS WITHDRAWN IN CSTO COUNTRIES

MOSCOW, November 18 (RIA Novosti) – Over 550 kg of drugs have been
seized over the two days of the Channel-2004 anti-drug operation, the
PR center of the Russian Federal Drug Control Service said to RIA
Novosti on Thursday.

“The second stage of the Channel-2004 operative-preventive operation
is underway in order to cut channels for trafficking of drugs,
psychotropic substances and their precursors on the territory of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization member-states, RIA Novosti’s
interlocutor said.

According to him, on November 16-17 over 550 kg of drugs were
withdrawn from illegal trafficking, 859 criminal proceedings were
launched and over 2,000 crimes solved.

“For instance, law enforcers searched a car and discovered 183 kg of
drugs in the Karaganda region, Kazakhstan. Anti-drug policemen seized
over 8.5 kg of heroin in the Samara region, Russia. In Tajikistan
policemen detained two people and withdrew 10.5 kg of heroin from
them,” RIA Novosti’s interlocutor noted.

“Representatives of Azerbaijan, Iran and Uzbekistan’s law enforcement
bodies participated in the operation as observers for the first
time,” he stressed.

The Collective Security Treaty was signed on May 15, 1992 in Tashkent
and came into force on April 20, 1994 for five years till April 1999.
The Collective Security Treaty Organization was set up on May 14,
2002. It comprises Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
and Tajikistan.