From 1 June 2025, a preventive police operation ‘Қарасора-2025’ has been launched across the entire territory of Kazakhstan, aimed at stopping the cultivation, production and distribution of narcotic substances. The press service of the Police Department of the Karaganda region reported on the operation's successes in the region.
In the Karaganda region, enhanced control measures have been introduced. On the region's main highways, mobile checkpoints are now in place, operating 24 hours a day. More than 150 police officers have been deployed for the operation, along with 30 patrol cars and specialised equipment. All suspicious vehicles and routes are subject to inspection.
On the first day of the operation in the village of Batpak, Osakarov district, officers from the department for combating drug crime, with the assistance of the regional prosecutor's office, shut down an underground drug laboratory. Two residents of Shakhtinsk, aged 24 and 25, were detained. They had purchased a private house worth 3 million tenge and set up narcotic substance production there.
During the search, 121 canisters of chemical substances were seized, along with specialist equipment including a press and reactor, respirators and personal protective equipment. The total weight of the seized chemical substances was around 2 tonnes. According to the first deputy head of the police department of the Karaganda region, Abil Abildin, this is the third major case since the beginning of 2025. Criminal cases have been opened against those detained, and they have been placed in a temporary detention facility.
It is worth noting that previous operations in the region have also been successful. In May, in the village of Zhanakala, Bukhar-Zhyrau district, police officers, coordinated by the regional prosecutor's office, shut down an underground production facility for the synthetic drug mephedrone. Around a tonne of chemical precursors and more than 500 grammes of the finished narcotic substance were seized. A 38-year-old resident of the Almaty region was detained, and a criminal case was opened.
Furthermore, earlier in the village of Asyl, law enforcement officers stopped the activities of a similar underground production facility, seizing around 200 kg of drugs and professional equipment. Two residents of Almaty were detained — a 25-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman.
The Police Department of the Karaganda region emphasises that combating drug crime remains a priority area of activity for law enforcement agencies as part of implementing the ‘Law and Order’ principle. It should be recalled that, in Kazakhstan, the production and distribution of drugs carries a penalty of up to life imprisonment.