DRUG-TRAFFICKING SURGES IN RUSSIAN FAR EAST

VLADIVOSTOK, - The traffic in drugs has mounted
tremendously in the Primorye territory, Russian Far East. According to
the Far Eastern Customs Directorate, its services seized in 1998 over
one tonne of narcotics and potent psychotropic drugs, or 4.5 times the
figure of 1997.

Regional anti-drug directorate chief Vladimir Skulkin told Itar-Tass
on Tuesday that the Primorye territory's Tajik community is
especially active in drug-trafficking.

Tajiks, going as refugees, smuggle large batches of drugs into the
Primorye territory.

Chinese drug-runners are as active, Skulkin said. "The Primorye
territory has become a uniqe territory in this regard," he said.

The anti-drug directorate's officers said neighbouring China has
clandestine ephedrine productions that try to run their output into
the Primorye territory.

Ephedrine, which is used for producing the synthetic narcotic
ephedrone, comes mostly from China, with 61 per cent of arrested
runners having proved Russians.

Skulkin said territorial anti-drug services are waiting for their
Chinese couterparts to move to shut down clandestine ephedrine
productions and smuggling routes.