900 kg of heroin seized in Russia this year

Moscow, April 15 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Almost 900 kg of Afghan-made heroin were seized in Russia in the first three months of 2013, the Russian Federal Drug Control Service said.

The vast majority of the heroin consumed in Russia is from Afghanistan.

The UN says some 20 percent of the almost 400 tonnes of heroin produced annually in the war-ravaged country travel through Central Asia before reaching the Russian market.

Some 30,000 Russians die from heroin abuse every year, accounting for around one-third of all heroin-related deaths worldwide, according to official statistics.

NGOs estimate that there are up to three million heroin addicts in Russia.

–IANS/RIA Novosti

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