A court in Kostanay has sentenced a man for drug trafficking after he transported illegal substances hidden inside a boxing bag he bought at a market in Almaty, the website infohub.kz reports.
According to the official Telegram channel of the courts of Kostanay Region, the court heard a criminal case against a defendant accused of illegally acquiring, storing and transporting narcotics for sale as part of a group acting in prior conspiracy, on an especially large scale (Article 297, Part 3, Points 1 and 3 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan).
The court established that in August 2026 the defendant contacted an unidentified person online, offered his services as a courier who places drug stashes, and, after receiving instructions, traveled to Almaty to buy narcotics and transport them to Kostanay for a promised reward of 500,000 tenge.
On August 9, 2026, the man bought drugs packaged in three plastic bags from a person not identified by investigators. Acting on the instructions of the same unidentified person, he also bought a boxing bag at one of Almaty's markets to conceal and transport the narcotics. After placing the packaged drugs inside the boxing bag, he transported them to Kostanay, where he continued to store them illegally for later sale.
In closing arguments, the state prosecutor asked the court to sentence the defendant to 8 years in prison.
In court, the defendant admitted guilt in part and said he had kept the drugs for personal use and had no intent to distribute them.
In passing sentence, the court took into account as a circumstance mitigating criminal liability and punishment the defendant's having a young child. The court found no aggravating circumstances.
Taking into account the defendant's character and all the circumstances of the case, the court sentenced him to 7 years in prison at a medium-security penal institution. The sentence has not yet entered into legal force.
Police had earlier reported that a 29-year-old Kostanay resident was detained during operational-search measures. A boxing bag containing marijuana was found in his car. A criminal case was opened.