Police have seized around 2 kilograms (4.4 lbs) of heroin in two separate incidents in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg

Police have seized around 2 kilograms (4.4 lbs) of heroin in two separate incidents in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, local police said on Wednesday.A Tajik national was initially detained carrying 15 grams of heroin, but later gave police information about another 1.2 kilograms (2.6 lbs) he had been keeping in the cellar of a city center store. He said his acquaintances had asked him to keep the drugs.
Police discovered another 0.5 kg of heroin in the possession of a train passenger. The 22-year-old woman was arrested and taken of the train.
Both offenders face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of smuggling drugs.
On Monday, police in the Urals region of Orenburg said they had seized more than 43 kg (95 lbs) of heroin hidden in a wood. The whereabouts of the drugs had been reported by an arrested drug dealer.
Customs officers made their largest-ever drug bust in the Urals on March 19, seizing a total of 353 kg (780 lbs) of heroin.Russia's Urals is a major point in the heroin smuggling route from Afghanistan through the former Soviet Central Asian republics on to Western Europe via Moscow and St. Petersburg. Alternatively, the drugs are smuggled into Turkey and then onto Europe via the Balkans.