Since the beginning of 2025, law enforcement agencies in the Karaganda region have seized more than one tonne of narcotic drugs from illegal circulation and liquidated seven drug laboratories.
According to Polisia.kz, the work is being carried out as part of the implementation of the "Law and Order" principle and the large-scale Operation "Qarasora-2025". The regional police are conducting systematic measures for the prevention and suppression of crimes related to illegal drug trafficking.
As reported by the First Deputy Head of the Police Department of the Karaganda region, Abil Abildin, the greatest threat at present is posed by synthetic drugs. The volume of their seizure in the region amounted to 590 kg.
The bulk of the seized substances consist of mephedrone and alpha-PVP. The total value of the drugs prevented from entering illegal circulation is estimated at more than 14.75 billion tenge, which is equivalent to approximately $30 million.
As a result of the operational activities, 45 people involved in the drug business were detained. Among those detained were 13 organisers and drug distributors. During the investigations, organised criminal groups (OCGs) with interregional connections were uncovered, which had laundered over 560 million tenge obtained through criminal means.
Furthermore, more than 7,000 graffiti inscriptions advertising drugs were destroyed in the region. Three individuals involved in distributing such advertisements were detained. The Police Department of the Karaganda region continues its work aimed at cutting off the distribution channels of synthetic substances and creating a safe environment for young people.
It will be recalled that from 1 June 2025, a preventive Operation "Qarasora-2025" launched across the entire territory of Kazakhstan, aimed at stopping the cultivation, production and distribution of narcotic substances.
On the first day of the operation in the village of Batpak, Osakarov district, Karaganda region, officers from the department for combating drug crime, with the assistance of the regional prosecutor's office, liquidated 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 organised the production of narcotic substances there. During the search, 121 canisters of chemical substances, special equipment including a press and a reactor, respirators and personal protective equipment were seized. The total weight of the seized chemical substances was about 2 tonnes.
Soon after, it became known about the liquidation of a large underground laboratory for the production of synthetic drugs in the settlement of Severo-Zapadny, Karaganda region. During operational activities, about 6 tonnes of chemical substances for drug manufacture and 35 kg of finished psychotropic substance were seized from illegal circulation. According to law enforcement agencies, the quantity of the seized narcotic substance is equivalent to more than one million doses.