MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/. Nearly 60 drug labs were eliminated in Russia and some 1.5 tons of drugs were seized in the first quarter of 2024, Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev said at a meeting with visiting Prosecutor-General of the Chinese Supreme People's Procuratorate Ying Yong.

"In the present-day world, we cannot fight against such crimes as illegal drug trafficking without cooperation. We see the synthetic drug market growing year after year. Let me cite some statistics: fifty-eight drug laboratories producing synthetic drugs were liquidated in Russia in the first quarter of the current year. As many as 1.5 tons of drugs and ten tons of precursors, or chemical substances used to make drugs, were seized," he said.

He stressed that Russia is interested in cooperating, exchanging information and eliminating channels of precursor supplies. "We are actively using the agreement on legal assistance on criminal cases between our countries," he added.