INTERIOR MINISTRY CLOSES UNDERGROUND DRUG LABS.

The chiefof the interior ministry’s anti-drug directorate, Nikolai Osipov,told Segodnya August 16 that his group had closed some250 underground drug processing laboratories in recent years.But he said that the influx of drugs into Russia–particularlyheroin and cocaine which were unknown in Russia in the past–wasincreasing and that the number of addicts–now at 1.5 million–woulddouble over the next five years. He said that his directoratewas especially worried about the Tajik opium corridor and theincreasing interest in Russia being shown by Columbia’s Medellindrug cartel.

Patriarch Backs Burying Lenin.