Russian law enforcement officials claim to have identified 3,000 foreign drug dealers who have attempted to enter Russia as migrant laborers in the past year.
According to Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev, the foreign traffickers were discovered with the cooperation of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the Federal Customs Service, and Interior Ministry officials.
“In the first ten months of this year there were about 3,000 foreign citizens who attempted to come here under the guise of migrants, but who were actually engaged in drug trafficking,” Kolokoltsev said on Wednesday in Russia’s Federation Council.
Some of the individuals have already been prosecuted, the minister added, while others have been prevented from entering the country.
Kolokoltsev claimed that the highest number of traffickers came from Ukraine, followed by Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. In order to stem the tide of drug trafficking, the minister said that Russian law enforcement bodies would be cooperating with their counterparts in foreign countries.
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