The Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA), together with law enforcement agencies, has shut down the activities of 55 Telegram channels involved in drug distribution.
According to the agency's press office, the total turnover of these "drug shops" was approximately 48 billion tenge.
It has been reported that since the beginning of the year, law enforcement officers have opened 60 criminal cases related to drug trafficking, half of which concern smuggling. Preliminary checks are being carried out on 29 cases involving online drug shops.
"Over 100 individuals have been detained, including 12 members of organised criminal groups. Approximately 100 kg of hard drugs – cocaine, ketamine, mephedrone and marijuana – as well as more than 1 tonne of precursor chemicals for their manufacture, have been seized. Around 30,000 bank cards belonging to 'money mules', who are potential accomplices in drug crimes and bear joint liability, have been blocked", the statement said.
In addition, in Shymkent, the largest channel in Kazakhstan for the production and distribution of mephedrone was shut down. Law enforcement officers uncovered a drug laboratory capable of producing nearly 50,000 doses of synthetic drugs each month.
"As part of international cooperation based on analytical data from the FMA, a special operation was carried out involving the financial intelligence units of Kazakhstan, Belarus and Russia to eliminate transnational online shops that were distributing drugs across the CIS", the statement said.
In these countries, three major drug shops were closed, 35 drug dealers were detained, more than 1 tonne of psychotropic substances and around 3,500 doses of synthetic drugs ready for sale to customers were seized. The total revenue of such drug shops amounted to nearly $30 million, of which $12 million was laundered through cryptocurrency.
Furthermore, at the initiative of the FMA, amendments were made to the regulations of the National Bank and the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM), imposing restrictions on issuing multiple cards to a single client.
"Additional control measures and restrictions have been established when issuing payment cards to non-residents and minors. Internal controls of banks regarding the issuance of payment cards have been strengthened, requiring mandatory biometric identification when registering a new client. Since these measures came into force, the number of clients holding multiple cards has dropped from 9,500 to 3,600, and remote servicing access has been blocked for 1,500 clients", the FMA reported.