KHUJAND, July 21, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Leader of the drug-trafficking gang from Sughd’s Istaravshan district has got a long jail term.

The Khujand city court on July 20 ruled that the 45-year-old resident of Istaravshan, Guzal Mamurov, be given a jail term of 17 years and that he will serve it in a high-security penal colony.  The sentence followed his conviction on charges of drug trafficking and setting up criminal group.

The source at the Khujand city court said that the ring members included 12 persons, including one woman.  “They were engaged in transporting large amounts of narcotics hidden in agricultural goods by heavy trucks to the Russian cities of Magnitogorsk, Yekaterinburg, Tyumen, Novosibirsk, Moscow and St. Petersburg,” the source said.

According to him, several members of the ring were detained in the Russian cities of Beloretzk and Magnitogorsk.  “Seven and five kilograms of heroin were confiscated from them respectively,” the source said.