900 kg of heroin seized in Russia this year

By IANS/RIA Novosti,

Moscow: 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.

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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.