You're reading: Russian surgeon arrested for taking heroin from patient’s stomach

MOSCOW - A Russian surgeon has been arrested for taking a five-gramme bag of heroin he found in a patient's stomach. 

“The doctor was intoxicated at the time of detention,” police for the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk said in a statement on Tuesday, adding he faced up to 15 years in prison for theft and possession.

The doctor, who was not named, refused to answer questions without a lawyer, the police said.

It was not clear whether the patient had been arrested.