A 72-year-old pensioner in Kokshetau has been sentenced to prison for acquiring, transporting and storing a large quantity of a psychotropic substance — 300 tramadol pills obtained with forged prescriptions, the website infohub.kz reports.
According to NUR.KZ, citing the Akmola Region Police Department, the Kokshetau City Court handed down the sentence to a 72-year-old resident of Makinsk found guilty of illegally acquiring, transporting and storing a psychotropic substance on an especially large scale.
Investigators established that in September 2025 the pensioner used forged prescriptions to buy 30 packs of tramadol at a pharmacy in Kokshetau. Each pack contained 10 pills — 300 pills of the psychotropic substance in total.
After buying the banned drug, the woman transported and stored it. She was later detained by officers from the drug crime unit. According to the summary table, the mass of the seized substance qualifies as especially large.
During the trial, the defendant said she had bought the pills for personal use. However, the evidence gathered during the pre-trial investigation, taken together, confirmed her guilt in illegally acquiring, transporting and storing the psychotropic substance.
In imposing the sentence, the court took into account the nature and degree of public danger of the crime, as well as the defendant's age. The court found no aggravating or mitigating circumstances.
The court initially sentenced the woman to 3 years and 6 months in prison. However, due to an amnesty, the term was reduced and ultimately set at 2 years and 4 months in prison, to be served in a medium-security penal institution.
The Akmola Region Police Department added that since 2023 tramadol has been included in the list of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their analogues whose circulation in Kazakhstan is subject to control. Illegal acquisition, storage, transportation and sale of the drug carry criminal liability.
Recall that last autumn Akmola police reported the detention of a 71-year-old pensioner who was found with a large quantity of tramadol. The woman admitted she had become addicted to the drug after her husband suffered a fracture and cancer.