27 February, Vitebsk /Olga Bogacheva - BELTA/. A large batch of heroin was seized in Vitebsk, the information and public relations department of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee informed a BELTA correspondent. In Vitebsk, on Moskovsky Avenue, police officers stopped a KIA Rio car for inspection, travelling from the city of Yartsevo, Smolensk Region (Russia), driven by an unemployed Vitebsk resident born in 1969. Also in the cabin was a 43-year-old Vitebsk resident, who was transporting 46 packages of a narcotic substance weighing 62.94 g. The value of the seized batch of heroin is estimated at over Br63 million. Since the beginning of the year, this is the third large batch of such a drug seized by law enforcement officers of the Vitebsk region, the Internal Affairs Directorate noted. A criminal case has been initiated against the Vitebsk resident under Article 328 of the Criminal Code of Belarus ("Illegal trafficking of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors"), which provides for up to 15 years of imprisonment. An investigation is underway. -0-

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