By IANS,
Moscow: A court in Russia has sentenced a foreigner to six years in a high security prison for trafficking 14.5 kg of heroin in the country, RIA Novosti reported.
Khakdod Goziev, whose exact nationality was not released but is said to be from a former Soviet republic, was detained on a train from Yekaterinburg to Novosibirsk.
Goziev was transporting the heroin in a linen bundle with shoes.
About 90 percent of heroin consumed in Russia is smuggled from Afghanistan via former Soviet republics, including Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Around 30,000 Russians die from heroin abuse every year.
Afghan drug production increased dramatically after the toppling of the Taliban regime in 2001, and Russia has been one of the most affected countries, with heroin consumption rising steeply.