A surgeon summoned to remove packets of heroin swallowed by a suspect has been arrested after he was found to have stolen some of the drug.
Police in the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk say that after investigators discovered that some of the drugs were missing, they searched the surgeon and found a packet containing 5 grams of heroin hidden in his clothing.
The surgeon, who was not identified, was under the influence of drugs when he was apprehended, according to a police statement issued on Tuesday (August 13). He was arrested in Bogotol, a town of 21,000, about 3,100km (1,930 miles) east of Moscow.
He has been charged on two counts: with illegally acquiring and possessing a large quantity of drugs, and stealing a large quantity of drugs.
Vladimir Yourchenko, police press secretary for the Krasnoyarsk region, said that the drama began when a passenger aboard a train from the city of Krasnoyarsk to Bogotol had become ill. Police had information that the passenger, a national of one of the former Soviet republics, was carrying several containers of heroin in his stomach.
Removed from the train, the man was taken to a district hospital where an operation was performed to extract the containers.
If convicted of stealing the heroin, the doctor, who has refused to comment without his lawyer being present, faces up to 15 years in prison.
