Student member of drug gang arrested in Tashkent

An active member of a criminal group engaged in the online trade of synthetic drugs has been arrested in the Tashkent district of the Tashkent region, the State Security Service (SSS) reported.

The suspect, a resident of Kibray district born in 2002, had been under surveillance. Acting on instructions from the gang’s organizers, he traveled to Tashkent district in his Spark car, where he was detained while collecting 4 kilograms and 300 grams of the synthetic drug alpha-PVP, previously hidden in a field by drug couriers.

The detainee is a third-year student at a private higher education institution in Tashkent.

A criminal case has been opened under Part 5 of Article 25.273 of the Criminal Code (illegal preparation, acquisition, storage, and trafficking of narcotics, their analogues, or psychotropic substances, as well as illegal distribution). The suspect has been placed in pre-trial detention. Investigative measures are ongoing to identify and apprehend his accomplices.

Earlier, in the Uzun district of Surkhandarya region, citizens born in 2005 and 2006 were detained while attempting to smuggle 20 kilograms and 374 grams of opium and 41 kilograms and 668 grams of hashish from Tajikistan.