MOSCOW: For the first time in the history of Russia, the court sentenced a person involved in a drug smuggling case to life imprisonment. The convicted man is a Tajik citizen named Sherali Tabarov. He was found guilty of Creating a Criminal Community and Smuggling Narcotic Drugs on an especially large scale (part 4 of Art. 229.1), Kommersant reported.
According to the news report, the Moscow Regional Court considered the case. Apart from Tabarov, over 14 other citizens of Tajikistan are involved in the case. According to the investigation, Tabarov created a criminal community that managed to import and distribute several hundred kilograms of heroin throughout Russian Federation. The group operated between 2012 and 2015.
It is noteworthy that Tabarov has had a previous conviction for the same crime. In 2003, the Penza Regional Court sentenced him to a 10 years’ imprisonment for crimes related to drug trafficking. After that, the man was extradited to his homeland, Tajikistan, where he was granted amnesty and released after some time.
Then he returned to Russia with a fake passport and started orchestrating heroin deliveries from Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
