Bratsk Woman Suspected of Mailing Banned Weight-Loss Pills

Transport police in the Baikal region detained a 40-year-old woman from Bratsk for mailing psychostimulants. The woman ran a Telegram channel where she shared information on weight-loss methods. There, she also sold a banned drug that induces a feeling of fullness, sibutramine, according to MVD-Media.

Sibutramine is an anorectic drug, a psychostimulant, a substituted amphetamine that enhances the feeling of fullness. It belongs to the group of drugs for treating obesity, but has not been used since 2010 because it causes addiction and has destructive side effects on the cardiovascular system.

The banned drug was purchased by the Bratsk woman through an online store, and then she sold the tablets through her channel and mailed them to her subscribers.

«In one of such parcels, transport police found and seized 69 metal cans with capsules. Examination showed that they contained more than 782 grams (approximately 1.7 pounds) of sibutramine,» it said in the message.

Also, investigators seized another 90 grams (about 0.2 pounds) of the substance from female recipients of the parcels in Bratsk, Irkutsk, Zima, Cheremkhovo, and the Ekhirit-Bulagatsky district in the Irkutsk region.

A criminal case has been opened against the woman for trade and distribution of potent drugs. She is under a travel restriction order.