Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — Authorities have foiled an attempt to smuggle 20kg and 239g of extracted opium into Uzbekistan, seizing the drugs from a house in the Ishikhan district of Samarkand Region, the State Security Service of Uzbekistan reported.
The house was temporarily occupied by a foreign national born in 1971 who is a citizen of a Persian Gulf country.
According to the agency, the man allegedly conspired with a citizen of a neighbouring republic, whose identity is being established, to bring the drugs into Uzbekistan from abroad in a Renault truck he was driving.
The narcotics were concealed in a hidden compartment in the truck and inside two batteries.
Officers from the State Security Service’s Samarkand regional department discovered the drugs during operational investigative activities.
Working with regional customs and internal affairs departments, they searched the house where the foreign national was staying and seized the substance in accordance with established legal procedures.
A criminal case has been opened against the foreign national and other individuals under Articles 246 and 273 of Uzbekistan’s Criminal Code.
Investigators are working to identify other people involved in the case.
