MOSCOW, February 4 - RAPSI. Over 8,500 drug related crimes were registered in the Moscow Region last year, a 15% increase on the 2011 statistics, Head of the Interior Ministry Department for the Moscow Region Nikolai Golovkin said on Monday.

"In total, we exposed 15 secret laboratories which were producing illegal amphetamines and detained 24 people involved in these organizations. We also blocked 20 drug supply routes, including 16 from Tajikistan and four from St. Petersburg, and confiscated over 133 kilograms of narcotics and other potent substances," Golovkin said.

He added that drugs are predominantly brought to the Moscow Region by citizens of the former Soviet republics. The police continue their work to uncover and cut short their criminal actions.