Law enforcement in Tashkent and the Tashkent region have dismantled a large criminal network involved in distributing potent drugs via the internet.

Officers from the Operational Search Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, together with the State Security Service, conducted a large-scale operation resulting in the arrest of eight members of a major online drug store.

According to the investigation, one of the key suspects had been distributing drugs through Telegram since 2023. He turned his apartment, where he lived with his family, into a warehouse: more than 200 kilograms of pregabalin and over 10 kilograms of tropicamide were stored there.

Through the online drug shop, he distributed up to 800 kilograms of substances per year among residents, and also supplied precursors for underground drug labs. Law enforcement believes he organized the criminal group and effectively led the drug community.

His accomplices played different roles. In the Yukorichirchik district of the Tashkent region, another group member was detained — he was responsible for storage. Equipment for a drug lab was found in his home, and 6 kilograms of pregabalin and 100 grams of tropicamide were discovered in the trunk of his car.

Additionally, three more participants, working as drug couriers, were detained while distributing over 2,000 units of psychotropic substances.

A criminal case has been opened under Part 5 of Article 251-1 (illegal trafficking of potent substances). All suspects have been arrested.

Earlier, in the Tashkent region, two underground drug labs were liquidated during a joint special operation by the MIA and SSS. Criminal groups were engaged in the industrial-scale production and packaging of potent drugs.

Source: podrobno.uz