Kazakhstan Intensifies Its Fight against Drug Dealers

Since the beginning of the year, Kazakhstan’s law enforcement officials have detected more than 5300 crimes and wrongdoing associated with drugs, including 991 cases of drug dealing and 270 cases of large-scale drug possession, according to Bakytzhan Amirkhanov, head of the Almaty drug enforcement agency.

As a result of purposeful activity, the police of Almaty have seized four kilograms of heroin, 129 kg of synthetic drugs, 371 kg of hashish and 8.7 tons of marijuana (12.5 tons of various drugs in total). They also closed 11 narcolaboratories.

As the official noted, during this year law enforcement forces have revealed the illegal activity of seven organized criminal groups involved in the drug business. Thirty-four individuals both leaders and gangsters were detained and should pay their price for all those crimes. Investigations into 13additional  cases are still ongoing.

«Over eight months of the year, we have registered 127 pre-trial procedures, including 58 of drug advertising and 69 of their marketing through the internet. Also, we’ve blocked 810 websites that drug dealers used to utilize as trading platforms,» he said.

In August law enforcement operatives stopped the activity of a criminal group in West Kazakhstan, which was involved in cultivating drug-containing crops in the Atyrau and West-Kazakhstan regions.