Police in Almaty have shut down an underground laboratory producing synthetic drugs inside a multi-storey residential complex, the website infohub.kz reports.
According to Kazakhstan's Ministry of Internal Affairs, officers identified a 34-year-old city resident who had set up mephedrone production directly inside the apartment block.
"A distinctive feature of this mini-lab was that the suspect deliberately set up production on the top floor of the building to avoid drawing the attention of neighbours with pungent exhaust fumes, connecting the ventilation to the building's ventilation shaft," said Bakhytzhan Amirkhanov, head of the department at the ministry's committee for combating drug crime.
During the search, officers seized one kilogram of finished product, six glass trays with crystals, six bottles of dichloromethane, nine canisters of reagents, laboratory glassware, electronic scales and personal protective equipment. The total weight of the seized drugs was 4.5 kg.
The ministry said a pre-trial investigation has been opened under Article 297-1 of the Criminal Code. The suspect faces a penalty of up to life imprisonment.