KYIV (AP) – Ukrainian authorities seized about 125 kilograms (275 pounds) of heroin from a clandestine drug laboratory in the culmination of an operation that also involved U.S., German and Turkish law enforcement agencies, the head of the State Security agency said Monday.
The heroin, with a street value of some $15.5 million was found at a lab in the Kherson region in southren Ukraine, said the agency’s acting director, Valentyn Nalivaychenko. Several people were detained on suspicion of drug trafficking, he said.
The operation, which was conducted over three months, was aimed at cutting off a route for the transit of heroin to European Union member states, he added. Former Soviet republics such as Ukraine are among the routes for trafficking of opium and heroin from Afghanistan to Europe.
