The narcotics were discovered in a truck loaded with agricultural products during an inspection at the border between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. The driver of the vehicle admitted that he was supposed to deliver the heroin to a town in southern Kazakhstan.

Among the boxes with fresh greens, 129 packages of powdered narcotic substance were discovered. An on-site analysis showed that the substance was 140 kilograms of heroin.

The vehicle inspection was carried out after information was received about a drug trafficking ring in Tajikistan who planned to smuggle drugs into Russia via Uzbekistan.

Most of the heroin and hashish coming into Russia originates in Afghanistan and is then trafficked into the country through the former Soviet republics of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Most of the drugs are then sold in Russia’s largest cities, or shipped onto Europe.